Great for Mormons, less so for others
Peter Whitmer Log Home (whitmer Farm)的点评
点评:I would highly recommend a visit here if you are Mormon. This is clearly an extremely important site to Mormons because it is quite literally where the Church was founded.
I am not Mormon, but I visited because I was curious to know more about the origins of the religion. Through the lens of history rather than religion, the site is not as compelling. The cabin itself is a complete reconstruction as the original cabin was gone by the time the Mormon Church bought the property.
To protect the site, you must enter the cabin with a tour guide. I honestly felt kind of trapped by the very nice woman who led the tour. Mormons take missionary work seriously and they clearly view this site as an opportunity to proselytize. I mean the cabin is not that big, but between the 20 minute introductory video and the extended walk through the cabin, we were stuck at the site for an hour. And as a non-Mormon, this did not feel like an hour’s worth of material. We would have been stuck longer if I hadn’t finally said that we needed to get on the road, which was true. I expected a certain level of proselytizing, but this was a bit much.
If I could have a do-over, I think I’d read up on the history before coming, drive to the site and see the cabin from the outside to get a sense of place, and then leave.
翻译:如果您是摩门教徒,我强烈建议您来这里参观。这显然对摩门教徒来说是一个极其重要的场所,因为它确实是教会的创立地。
我不是摩门教徒,但我参观是因为我很想知道更多关于该宗教起源的信息。从历史而非宗教的角度来看,该网站并不那么引人注目。小屋本身是一个完整的重建,因为在摩门教教会买下这处房产时,原来的小屋已经不复存在了。
为保护遗址,必须在导游的带领下进入小木屋。老实说,我有点被带领这次旅行的非常好的女人困住了。摩门教徒认真对待传教工作,他们清楚地将这个网站视为一个传教的机会。我的意思是机舱并没有那么大,但是在 20 分钟的介绍视频和穿过机舱的长时间步行之间,我们在现场停留了一个小时。作为一个非摩门教徒,这感觉不像是一个小时的材料。如果我最终没有说我们需要上路的话,我们会被困得更久,这是真的。我预计会有一定程度的传教,但这有点过分了。
如果我能重来一次,我想我会在来之前阅读历史,开车到现场,从外面看看小屋,了解一下地方,然后离开。