Sacred Grove PDF      Email to a Friend      Printer Friendly Version

The Sacred Grove in early spring, where young Joseph Smith, Jr. experienced the First Vision Photo courtesy of David C. Wadsworth

When Joseph Smith, Jr. was fourteen years old, he wanted to know which church he should join. Joseph was confused with the religious tumult of differing opinions. In his search for truth, he read in James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." Joseph decided that the only way that he was going to know which church to join was to ask God. On a spring morning in 1820, he went into a nearby woods, which has since become known as the Sacred Grove. Joseph describes his experience as follows:

"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" ¹

Key Events at the Sacred Grove - God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the 14 year old Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1820. - The grove was purchased in 1907 and is currently maintained by the Church.

Joseph was also told that he should join none of the churches because "they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.'"²

Joseph left the grove with a personal knowledge of the existence of God and Jesus Christ. Through this and other experiences, he was chosen to help restore Jesus Christ's church to the Earth. His experience in the Sacred Grove ranks among the most important events to have ever occurred.

The grove was purchased in 1907 from William Chapman and is currently maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.³

---

SOURCES

¹ Joseph Smith History 1:16-17.

² Joseph Smith History 1:19.

³ Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow [New York: Macmillan, 1992], 3:1248.