Among the bus tours that come we have wonderful groups of young people most of whom are Seminary graduates from western states. These groups usually visit Washington, D.C. and other national historic sites as well as Church history sites. Teaching the young people who come to the visitor's center is a special treat for Brother Vorwaller who taught youth for so many years in Church Education.

The tour directors for almost all of the buses that have been here are men who work for the Church Education System and do tours in the summer. Many of the directors provide wonderful learning experiences for the people in their groups.

During the month of July we have hosted eleven bus tours with fifty or more visitors on each of the buses. We divide them into three groups of fifteen to twenty to take on a tour of the visitor center. In this picture we see Sis. Vorwaller doing what we each love to do, explaining to her group about the Prophet Joseph Smith being born here at this sacred spot. It requires about an hour for us to complete tours with larger numbers but they are all very gracious and appreciative.

This is a picture of the home the Smiths rented right after the successful surgery on Joseph's leg. Even though the back portion of the house was an addition since the Smiths lived in it I'm sure the whole family was excited to have such a lovely new residence in which to start over. During the three years they lived here Joseph was on crutches. Even though the whole family would have looked to the future with optomisim the next three years were not kind to them or their neighbors. They experienced crop failure each of the next three years and the last was what they called 'the year without a summer' here in New England. There was a killing frost every month of the year. We now know that that climate change was caused by the eruption of a volcano in Indonesia named Tambora. As a result of those bad crop years many people along with the Smiths leave Vermont. Vermont historians say it took over a century for the state to recover from that loss of population. Most of the people will move westward and relocate somewhere in the Western Preserve. The Vermonters had been hearing about the fertile soil and longer growing season in western New York and Ohio. And lots of families are settling in or near Palmyra, N.Y. because of its favorable location in relation to the Erie Canal and the major roads through the area at that time. In a sense Palmyra becomes the cross roads of the western frontier during the early part of the nineteenth century. For these reasons and other more significant ones Joseph Smith Sr. will settle his family near Palmyra.

These are two of the quilts Sis. Vorwaller really loved. We refered to them in our last post.

We also visited the Shelburne Museum and enjoyed the wide variey of displays. We think the Shelburne Museum is to Vermont what the Huntington Library is to So. Calif. Among the many exhibits we enjoyed, seeing the beautiful hand made quilts was definitely a favorite of Sis. Vorwaller's. The colors achieved by applique on the Poppy quilt and also on a quilt with day-lilies was vibrant and bold. Most of the quilts on display were hand-quilted.

Sis. Vorwaller and I visited Shelburne Farms on our prep. day this week. We were astounded when this amazing barn came into view. Yes, it is a real barn that looked like a castle to us. I tried to inform the elementary students riding on our wagon that this was a very fancy barn and not what they would usually see. However, the Webb family have certainly done well to preserve a beautiful place that is still a working farm where many gain a greater education of and appreciation for agriculture. We hope to return and enjoy the spectacular scenery this fall. We plan on eating at the resturant then when they will have lamb raised at the farm on the menu. We'll keep you posted.