Joseph Smith was born in a small cabin on the Sharon/Royalton Township line on December 23, 1805. The picture is of a small replica which sits on the cabin-site today.
This was land owned by his maternal grandparents, Solomon and Lydia Mack, purchased by them in 1804. They rented the cabin and 68 of the 100 acres to Joseph's parents, Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, who moved there from Royalton in 1804. They lived in the cabin for three years, until 1807, when they moved to Tunbridge. The LDS Church bought the land in 1905 and erected a granite monument near the site of the home.
The shaft of the monument is 38 1/2 feet tall, a foot for each year of Joseph's life.
It was dedicated on December 23, 1905, the 100th anniversary of Joseph's birth, by his nephew, Joseph F. Smith (his brother Hyrum's son), then president of the LDS Church.
A short distance from the monument
is a marker where the hearthstone (27 x 54 inches) rested.
The actual hearthstone is in the visitor's center about 200 feet away.
Just a few feet away is the front door step
of the cabin
with a small marker on it.
These two stone items are all that remain of the original cabin. The area is still extremely rural today, in a beautiful green, hilly, countryside.
Having grown up in the west, I have always envisioned the west as the area of the U.S. with rural, open land and the east as crowded and full of people. It was a little shocking to me to see how rural Vermont is. In most ways, it seems more rural and undeveloped than what we live in out west. It was a pleasant surprise.
One of these days we are going to get out there and do a church history tour.
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