Property acquired in Pennsylvania
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OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, PENN.
The Church has acquired 10 acres in northern Pennsylvania's Susquehanna County, adding to property it already owns in an area deep with Mormon history, including the translation of the Book of Mormon.
Scott Trotter, Church spokesman, acknowledged the 10-acre purchase "near a site of historical significance to the founding of the faith,"
Formerly known as Harmony, the Oakland Township area is where LDS Church prophet Joseph Smith first met, courted and then married his wife, Emma Hale Smith.
It is also the site where much of the Church's Book of Mormon was translated, where revelations comprising 15 sections of the Church's Doctrine and Covenants volume of scripture were received, and where John the Baptist appeared as an angel to bestow the Aaronic Priesthood.
"The Church is committed to preserving the beauty of the site and in conducting ongoing archeological and environmental research in the vicinity," Brother Trotter said. "No decision has been made concerning future development of the site."
Besides the ties to the Book of Mormon translation and the early Doctrine and Covenants sections, Joseph Smith and scribe Oliver Cowdery visited the banks of the nearby Susquehanna River, where the two baptized each other and received the Aaronic Priesthood from the angel John the Baptist.
Erected five decades ago, a large bronze historic marker located between Route 171 and the river acknowledges the historic events, the location of the former Smith home and the proximity of the Susquehanna River.
