Joseph Smith and the Restoration with Dr. Steven C. Harper

About the Tour Guides:

Dr. Steve Harper is a BYU professor of Church history and doctrine and former (2012-2018) Managing Historian and General Editor of Saints: The Story of The Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days and (2002-2012) a volume editor of The Joseph Smith Papers.

Scott Salvesen has both a passion for and a master's degree in tourism. With his enthusiasm for history and years of industry experience, Scott manages each tour with expertise and care.

Trip Dates: June 17 - June 27, 2025

Trip Length: 10 days

Trip Cost per person: The cost is $2,750* per person double occupancy, or $3,295* single occupancy. An additional reduced rate is available for children traveling in the same room as their parents. Complete the "More Information" form to learn more.

Trip Difficulty: Modern urbanized (learn more)

Number of Tour Spots Still Available: 1 out of 50

Waitlist Information: Our trip is almost full. However, you may still sign up for a waitlist in case someone drops out. Guests who pay a deposit to be on the waitlist will be given first priority. Waitlist deposits are fully refundable if your place on the list does not come up for the trip.

Deposit and Payment Details: A non-refundable deposit of $250 per person is required to reserve a place on the trip. Final payment on the balance is due by March 31, 2025. After March 15, full payments are required to book. The final day to book is March 31, 2025. See waitlist information above for waitlist deposit conditions.

We'll meet in Rochester, New York, enjoy dinner together, and start thinking slowly.

Hoping for a beautiful, clear, spring day 205 years since Joseph's First Vision, we'll start in the woods where it happened. Before lunch, you'll have time to yourself in the Sacred Grove and learn a lot about the vision and its context. We'll visit the Smith cabin and frame home and see the places where Joseph attended Methodist meetings, discovered a seer stone, and unearthed the Book of Mormon plates. We'll drive through the Finger Lakes region and overnight in Binghamton, New York. 

We'll see the scenic Susquehanna River Valley, including the sites where Joseph met and and married Emma Hale, where he translated and she scribed the Book of Mormon, where they buried their first child, and where angels ordained Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to the holy priesthood. We'll spend time on the river bank contemplating the first authorized baptisms of the last dispensation. Then to Fayette, New York and the replica farmhouse of Mary Musselman and Peter Whitmer, where an angel showed the Book of Mormon plates to Mary in her barnyard, and to her son David, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris in the nearby woods. We'll see where the Savior's Church was organized and its first conferences were held and where several revelations were received. We'll drive along Seneca Lake, where the Whitmers and others were baptized. We'll overnight in Geneva, New York.

We'll see where Lucy and Joseph Smith, Sr. lived on our way to Seneca Falls and the Women's Rights National Historical Park, thence to the Erie Canal stop where Parley Pratt was inspired to leave the canal boat and find the Book of Mormon. We'll visit the Grandin Press and Bookstore where the Book of Mormon was printed and sold, see Alvin Smith's gravesite and Martin Harris's farm, and we'll follow Samuel Smith on his early missions to take the Book of Mormon to the Young and Greene families. We'll spend all afternoon at Niagara Falls and all night in Buffalo, New York.

On the summer solstice we will "Go to the Ohio" as the early saints were divinely directed to do (DC 37). They went by canal to Buffalo and by steamboat up Lake Erie. For them it was the beginning of the gathering of Israel. We'll bus along the lake as we follow their lead. Along the way we'll learn what Joseph said about seer stones buried nearby, and contemplate Lucy Mack Smith's heroic story of the saints’ harrowing journey to Fairport Harbor to obey the Lord's command. We'll go with Oliver Cowdery and his missionary companions to the Morley Farm, experience Historic Kirtland Village, and visit the recently restored Emma and Joseph Smith home and the House of the Lord, where the Spirit of God burned like a fire, angels came to visit the earth; the Savior appeared, endowed the saints with power, and began to resolve Christianity's soteriological problem. We'll spend the night in nearby Mentor.

We'll worship with the saints in Kirtland and after sacrament meeting head to the stone quarry used for the Kirtland Temple. From there we'll tour Elsa and John Johnson's farmhouse to see where Joseph revised the Bible, envisioned the Father and the Son, and saw the heavenly glories. It’s here that Joseph was dragged from bed, beaten and tarred, where the Lord revealed through Joseph the answers to William McLellin's intimate questions, and where the Book of Commandments was born. Then we'll head west, as if we're marching with Brigham Young, Heber Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, and the rest of the Camp of Israel. Like them, we'll spend the night in Indianapolis, Indiana. During our long Sunday drive we'll learn about Hyrum Smith's ministry to Sally Parker as he led Kirtland Camp to Missouri.

We’ll travel from Indianapolis to St Louis. We’ll learn about the history of St. Louis and its importance in American history. We’ll be able to visit Gateway Arch National Park, with enough unstructured time for a ride to the top of the Gateway Arch, relaxing, a Mississippi river cruise, or a Cardinals game if they’re in town.

We’ll continue on toward Columbia, where Parley Pratt and fellow prisoners escaped from jail and where the citizens still commemorate that event and celebrate the Constitution with the annual Parley P. Pratt Freedom Run. We'll stop in Jefferson City, Missouri and see the actual Extermination Order and tour the state capitol including Thomas Hart Benton's painting of Bishop Partridge being tarred and feathered. Then we'll go to the site where that happened–to "the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion," or "the place which is now called Independence" (DC 57:2-3)--where we'll also see the temple site, and where the Saints' printing office was destroyed and some copies of the revelations were rescued by brave saints including Vienna Jaques and Elizabeth and Caroline Rollins.

There is a temple in Liberty, Missouri today. We’ll  see the temple but won't have time to worship there. We will, however, spend time in the Liberty Jail, discuss how it was both heavenly and hellish, and learn the Lord's restored response to the problem of pain and suffering. We'll see where Joseph and others were detained and Oliver Cowdery's grave in Richmond, make a stop in Hamilton (a quilting Mecca), then on to the temple site at Far West before taking in the views from Adam-Ondi-Ahman. Then, like Joseph and Hyrum, we'll take our change of venue for the state of Illinois. But we’ll stop on the way to dine at the Pear Tree and stay at the Depot Inn.

We'll spend the day in Nauvoo. We'll learn all about what Joseph's store there has to do with the Relief Society, Masonry, the endowment of power, and the restoration of the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. We will have unstructured time to explore before dining together.

We will have enough unstructured time this morning for temple worship and/or site seeing. Then 181 years to the day Joseph and Hyrum were martyred, we'll visit the Hancock County Jail in Carthage, Illinois, the sacred and solemn site where they sealed their witness of the Savior with their blood. Then we'll head for St Louis to the Marriott hotel next door to the airport, where, alas, our tour will come to an end.

Please note: while our tour does end on June 27th, we request that you book flights home on the 28th so that there is no stress on your part to catch flights on time. Hotel accommodations next to the airport on the night of June 27th (with a shuttle service) are included in the cost of the tour.

• Ground transportation
• Accommodations
• Two meals per day
• Entrance fees into activities as outlined in the itinerary
• Gratuities at all group meals and for all services covered by trip fee

• Airfare and baggage fees to Rochester, NY where the tour begins, and from St. Louis, MO where the tour ends
• Snacks and one meal per day
• Souvenirs and clothing
• Activities not included in the itinerary
• Personal medical and emergency costs (we strongly recommend purchasing traveler's insurance for this trip, and all trips you may take)

The cost is $2,750 per person double occupancy, or $3,295 single occupancy. That includes whole group activities (two meals each day and all gratuities for the bus driver and waitstaff at group meals). It doesn't cover the third meals or optional add-ons that the whole group doesn't participate in together, including the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls, a baseball game, a Mississippi dinner cruise, the Gateway Arch, etc.