Visiting the Tomlinson Inn

On Monday evening we had the opportunity to drive about 10 miles south of where we live to visit some very historical sites that are seldom mentioned - the Tomlinson Inn, the John Young Home, and the site where Brigham Young and quite a few Mendon saints were baptized shortly after the church was organized.  Our first stop was the John Young home (Brigham Young's father) - lived in today by senior missionaries who work in the mission office.  

Next we drove a half mile to theTomlinson Inn where Samuel Smith (Joseph's brother) gave a Book of Mormon to Phineas Young (Brigham Young's brother) right after it was published that resulted in the conversion of many in this area, including the second prophet of the church, Brigham Young.  This same book was the instrument that led to Heber C. Kimball becoming converted and over 30 other Mendon saints.

We also went inside the barn nearby where guests who stopped at the inn slept for free.

The next picture shows upstairs inside the loft of the barn . . . the floors were very old and rickety.

The next couple of pictures were inside the inn.  We didn't go up the stairs shown below because of their poor condition, but we entered the upstairs room a different way to see where Brigham Young taught his first sermon.

The first time we visited Mendon, a year ago last June, we sat on the east lawn of the John Young home and listened to the account of the vision in the night sky that occurred over this beautiful green valley.  Being in the spot where it was actually witnessed by Heber C. Kimball, his wife Fanny, Father Young and others, brought this experience to life for us.

Kimball claims a miraculous event on September 22, 1827. He describes it in his autobiography.

Sept. 22, 1827, while living in the town of Mendon, I having retired to bed, John P. Greene, a traveling reformed Methodist preacher, waked me up calling upon me to behold the scenery in the heavens.

I called my wife and sister Fanny Young (sister of Brigham Young) who was living with me; it was so clear that you could see to pick up a pin, we looked to the eastern horizon and beheld a white smoke arise towards the heavens, and as it ascended it formed itself into a belt and made a noise like the rustling of a mighty wind, and continued southwest, forming a regular bow dipping in the western horizon.

After the bow had formed it began to widen out and grow clear and transparent of a bluish cast, it grew wide enough to contain twelve men abreast.

In this bow an army moved, commencing from the east and marching to the west. They moved in platoons, and walked so close, the rear ranks trod in the steps of their file leaders, until the whole bow was literally crowded with soldiers.

We could see distinctly the muskets, bayonets, and knapsacks of the men, who wore caps and feathers like those used by the American soldiers in the last war with Britain; also their officers with their swords and equipage, and heard the clashing and jingling of their instruments of war and could discover the form and features of the men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army, when the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time: I could hear the step.

When the front rank reached the Western horizon a battle ensued, as we could distinctly hear the report of the arms and the rush.

No man could judge of my feelings when I beheld that army of men, as plainly as I ever saw armies of men in the flesh it seemed as though every hair of my head was alive. This scenery was gazed upon for hours, until it began to disappear.

Subsequently I learned this took place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the records of the Book of Mormon from the Angel Moroni.

Later after joining the church, Heber asked Joseph about the puzzling vision in the heavens, and the Prophet explained that it was symbolic of the final great struggle between the forces of good and evil brought about by the Restoration of the gospel. Brigham Young, who then lived in Port Byron about 30 miles away, also saw the same vision in the sky.  It was sometime after Brigham and Heber were baptized that they discovered they had both seen the same vision.