“Colesville Restoration”

“Colesville Restoration” May 23, 2015

 

Knight Farm
At the Joseph and Polly Knight farm, in Colesville (now Nineveh), New York

 

Some who know me are aware that I have a very strong “sense of place” — it’s among the reasons I travel so much — and that I’m passionately interested in questions of historical preservation, especially (but not solely) in connection with the story of the Restored Church.

 

So I was thrilled, a couple of weeks ago, to see some changes that had occurred since the last time I visited the area around Harmony (now Oakland), Pennsylvania.

 

There is, of course, the official ongoing Church Historical Department project to improve the area immediately adjacent to the Aaronic priesthood restoration monument and the old home of Joseph and Emma Smith (where much of the Book of Mormon was translated).  That work is well underway, and I’m delighted.

 

But, the last few times I had been in the area before this, I had become worried about three specific sites — the home of Josiah Stowell; the former farm of the Joseph Knight family (my ancestors), in what is now Nineveh, New York, but what used to be called Colesville; and the old home of Squire Tarbell, where Joseph and Emma were married.  (That home is now a ticket booth on the county fairgrounds.)  I didn’t get a chance to visit the Tarbell home this time, but we did drive by the Stowell and Knight places, and I was astonished and very pleased to see that they’re now receiving some real attention.

 

See here:

 

http://www.colesville-restoration.com

 

http://www.hartwoodfamily.com/2014/07/22/colesville-restoration/

 

http://www.arizonacorporates.com/corp/298046.html

 

So far as I can tell, these projects have been undertaken by private members of the Church.  I want to express my deep gratitude to them for what they’ve done.

 

 


Browse Our Archives