Touring Church History Sites with Your Computer

July 25, 2021

Visiting Church historic sites can increase your understanding of and appreciation for the Doctrine and Covenants. It is sometimes difficult for people to visit the sites physically because of time, distance, finances, and other constraints, including challenges associated with the current global pandemic. Gratefully, modern technology makes it possible to take virtual tours of the sites.

Overview Tour of Key Historic Sites

On the evening of July 15, 2021, the North American West Area of the Church broadcast a devotional film that was a virtual tour of key Church history sites associated with the Doctrine and Covenants. It provides a good one-hour tour of the sites guided by two historians, Richard E. Turley Jr. and Kate Holbrook, who go through the sites with visiting Church members from the area where the devotional was broadcast.

To view this virtual tour, provided as the North America West Area Single Adult Conference Devotional, click here.

Tours of Specific Sites

You can also use your computer, phone, or other screen device to take virtual tours of specific Church historic sites. Just click on the links below for a few examples:

Joseph Smith Birthplace Virtual Tour

Sacred Grove Virtual Tour

Hill Cumorah Virtual Tour

Grandin Building: Book of Mormon Publication Site Virtual Tour

Priesthood Restoration Site Virtual Tour

Historic Kirtland Virtual Tours

Johnson Home Virtual Tour

Independence Visitors’ Center Virtual Tour

Liberty Jail Virtual Tour

Historic Nauvoo Virtual Tours

Carthage Jail Virtual Tour

Just as a visit to the Holy Land can dramatically increase your understanding of and appreciation for the Old and New Testaments, these virtual tours, which are all free, can deepen your understanding of the Doctrine and Covenants. Whether you have been to the sites before and want to see what has changed, have never been there and want to understand them, or are about to take an actual tour and want to prepare well, these tours can be a great blessing.

Credit for image at top of page: Detail from George Edward Anderson photograph of Sacred Grove, ca. 1907, public domain, copied from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sacred_Grove_(1907).jpg.

Author: Richard E. Turley Jr.

Richard E. Turley Jr. served for twenty-two years as managing director of the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and eight years as Assistant Church Historian and Recorder. He also served as managing director of the Family History, Public Affairs, and Church Communication Departments.

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