Book of Mormon and Church History - Legacy Tours and Travel

Book of Mormon and Church History Tour

Niagra Falls

Hill Cumorah

Serpent Mound

Nauvoo Temple

Cahokia Mounds

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Ready to travel on our Book of Mormon and Church History Tour?

2024 Dates TBA

$2,595

per person, based on double occupancy

$3,375

per person, based on single occupancy

$2,335

per person, based on triple occupancy

$2,210

per person, based on quad occupancy

Guided by Rod Meldrum

14 day tour includes:

13 night hotel accommodations
Deluxe motor-coach transportation
Museum entrance fees
13 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 3 dinners

Not Included:

Airfare to Buffalo, NY and from Kansas City, MO
Airline baggage fees
Meals other than listed
Additional trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance
Tips for driver and guide

Itinerary

Day 1

FLY TO NEW YORK

Upon arriving in New York, you will be shuttled to our hotel in Buffalo. Once you arrive at the hotel you will be able to check into your room and enjoy a relaxing evening so that you can begin your adventure refreshed and ready to explore!

Day 2

NIAGARA FALLS - LAKE ONTARIO

Today we will tour the unforgettable Niagara Falls. We will ride the Maid of the Mist and experience the power and energy of this natural wonder. You will learn of the significance of this site to the Book of Mormon people. From Niagara we will travel to Rochester and check into our hotel. That evening we will enjoy a welcome dinner with guest introductions. After dinner we will travel to Lake Ontario, or “Sea East” as identified by Joseph Smith to see the sun set.

Day 3

HILL CUMORAH - GRANDIN PRESS - SMITH FARM - PALMYRA TEMPLE

We begin our tour on top of the Hill Cumorah, the site where the Book of Mormon ends and church history begins! We will then visit the Grandin Printing Press where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. You will have the privilege to enter the same sacred grove where the boy Joseph witnessed the Father and the son, as well as visit the Smith farm and other sacred sites such as Alvin Smith’s grave site. We will stop at the Palmyra Temple for pictures before dinner and overnight in Rochester.

Day 4

PALMYRA - FAYETTE - KIRTLAND

We start the morning off travelling southbound to visit the Peter Whitmer farm where the church was officially organized April 6, 1830, stopping for lunch by Lake Erie. We will work our way south to Ohio and the Kirtland Temple, now owned by the Community of Christ. Our tour of the historic Kirtland Temple will include a visit to the museum and introductory movie of this sacred site. Next stop, the Church’s Visitors Center of Old Town Kirtland where guides will take you to the Newel K Whitney store, Sawmill and Johnson Historic hotel as part of our continuing educational experience. You will be privileged to sit in the actual room of the school of prophets and contemplate the events that occurred there above the Whitney store. We will be staying the night near Kirtland, Ohio.

Day 5

JOHNSON FARM - COSHOCTON - NEWARK

Today we will then wind our way south to the John Johnson Farm where Joseph was dragged from his bed to be cruelly tarred and feathered. Our next stop begins our Book of Mormon evidences portion where we will explore the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, Ohio that houses the famous “Holy Stones” found in a Hopewell mound near Newark, Ohio inscribed with ancient Hebrew writings that demonstrates a North American connection to the old world. Next, we will visit the Great Circle in Newark, Ohio. This area is the most extensive monumental earthworks in the world built by the Hopewell Civilization and dating between 150 BC and 250 AD, during the peace following Christ’s visit. Scientists have recently discovered embedded astronomical alignments demonstrating a highly advanced civilization.

Day 6

ANCIENT OHIO SITES - MOUND CITY - SERPENT MOUND

Today we will see the Hopewell earthwork sites in Mound City and Seip Mound near Chillicothe, Ohio. We will visit an ancient hilltop fortress with defense earthworks similar to those described in the Book of Mormon. We will also see the famous effigy mound – Serpent Mound before driving to our hotel in Wilmington, OH.

Day 7

FORT ANCIENT - MIAMISBURG - SPRINGFIELD

Today we will visit Fort Ancient, another hill-top fortress with miles of embankments and trenches. Our final stop in Ohio is the pristine Miamisburg Adena culture mound. As we end the day, we will travel through the Indiana countryside to stay the night near Springfield, Illinois.

Day 8

ZELPH'S MOUND - CARTHAGE - NAUVOO

Today we will journey “over the plains of the Nephites” as Joseph wrote to his sweetheart Emma, while on Zion’s Camp march. One of the locations where Church History intersects with Book of Mormon history is Zelph’s Mound, perched high upon a bluff of the Illinois River. This sacred site is where Joseph Smith had a vision of righteous Lamanite warrior who died in the final struggles between the Nephites and Lamanites. After the short climb to the bluff of this unique site, we will travel to fateful Carthage Jail, where the lives of Joseph the prophet and his faithful brother Hyrum were taken by assassins. From there we travel on to Joseph’s city, Nauvoo.

Day 9

NAUVOO TEMPLE and PAGEANT - NAUVOO

The Nauvoo Temple stands majestically on a bluff, symbolically facing the west. For those who would like, we will have time to do a temple session in the morning. In the afternoon we will take a bus tour “back in time” to see Old Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Mansion, beautiful homes, blacksmith shop, Browning gun shop and more. In the evening you will have a chance to walk the Trail of Hope experienced by the saints as they bid farewell to Nauvoo. Looking across the river we will see Montrose, Iowa, the area indicated by the Lord to be called Zarahemla, in D&C 125:3. Following the Nauvoo Pageant performance we will spend the night in Nauvoo.

Day 10

ZARAHEMLA - HANNIBAL - CAHOKIA

Leaving Nauvoo, we will travel across the Mississippi River to Montrose, Iowa to see the Little Mound Cemetery. On our way to St. Louis we will stop in Hannibal, Missouri, hometown of Mark Twain. Next we will discover the largest city in North America before European settlement, Cahokia, just outside of St. Louis. The museum is world class but the magnitude of Monks Mound, the largest earthen temple mound structure in North America is awe inspiring. We will stay the night in Marion, MO.

Day 11

STONE FORT - NEW MADRID - WICKLIFFE

In the morning we will ride to Stone Fort, an ancient fortified hilltop with stone walls perched atop a bluff. Next we will drive to town of New Madrid, site of the largest earthquake sequence in North American historical time. The museum there will make this historic event come to life. We will drive south to the proposed Head of the River Sidon.

Day 12

INDEPENDENCE - LIBERTY JAIL - COMMUNITY OF CHRIST TEMPLE

Leaving Springfield, our route will turn northward toward Independence, Missouri, where you will have a chance to go inside the Community of Christ Temple. Independence is the prophesied location of the New Jerusalem in the final days on this earth. Few locations on earth are as sacred as this future temple site. You will stand on the ground where these prophesied events will occur. Here you will visit the only temple visitors’ center without temple…yet. Our next site will be Liberty Jail where some of the most hallowed revelations were received while Joseph was incarcerated there. We will stay the night in Kansas City, MO.

Day 13

FAR WEST - ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN - KANSAS CITY TEMPLE

Visiting Far West, with its temple cornerstones still in place, will help us continue to learn of the significance and parallelisms of this, the Lord’s Promised Land. We will explore the ancient past and the foretold future where they meet in the lush valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman. On this sacred land the Prophet Joseph found the remains of an old “Nephite altar” near Tower Hill. Then we return to Kansas City we will drive by the new Kansas City Temple before our farewell dinner. We will stay the night in near Kansas City, MO.

Day 14

RETURN

As you fly home from Kansas City you will have some more time to contemplate the parallelisms and wonder of having just experienced the marvelous histories that have played out in the Heartland of the Lord’s Promised Land, the United States of America.

Payment Terms:

$300 pp deposit at time of booking

Final payment due 90 days before departure

**This tour is based on a minimum of 20 passengers and max of 50 passengers.

Meet your Guide!

Rod L. Meldrum

Rod L. Meldrum is a researcher, best-selling LDS author, and international lecturer on the validity of the Book of Mormon with an emphasis on its scriptural and physical evidences. His book titled, “Exploring the Book of Mormon in America’s Heartland” is the #1 LDS Book about Book of Mormon geography with over 40,000 copies printed. He began guiding the Book of Mormon Chronology Tour in 2018.

Rod has also written a book titled “Prophecies and Promises; The Book of Mormon and the USA.” This book outlines the 36 Prophecies and Promises that clearly identify
the United States as the location of the ‘Promised Land’ of the Latter-days. It has been called a “stunning” new insight on geography research and provides historical evidence that documents containing Joseph Smith’s words, writings, and actions were consistent with the prophecies & promises of the Book of Mormon. He also served for seven years as the senior scientific researcher on the book titled, “Universal Model” by Dean Sessions, a natural sciences textbook. The first volume of over
800 pages was just printed in 2017 and volume two printed in 2018, with volume three to follow. It’s over 2,500 pages of “New Millennial Science.”

He began his study of issues surrounding the controversy over DNA and the Book of Mormon in 2003 which led to a study of the origins of proposed geographical settings of the Book of Mormon. In addition, he has spent years of intensive study of the Book of Mormon itself and the historical background and documents associated with it. He is passionate about sharing his research of the Book of Mormon Chronology with others.

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