A mini-park is at the old Temple Quarry, where sandstone was cut into blocks for the temple. Men quarried the stone during the week, let it dry in the sun and hauled it to the temple site on Saturday. A nice little path leads through the woods and around the pond. Drill marks from the quarry are visible on some of the stones.

On the hill overlooking the flats, the Kirtland Temple — the first such structure built by the Saints — still stands. It is now owned and operated by the Community of Christ church. Nearby is a little cemetery where a number of early pioneers are buried, including Hyrum Smith's first wife, Jerusha Barden Smith, and Joseph Smith's paternal grandmother, Mary Duty Smith.

A number of other structures in town were associated with the early settlers. (A plaque on the house across from the cemetery, for example, notes that it was once the home of Joseph and Emma.) But they are all privately owned and not open for tours.

The best place to get a feel for Kirtland is in the Historic Kirtland district. Much of what you find there is faith-related, and believers will be deeply touched by seeing the places and hearing the stories of early church events.

Kirtland is where many of the early doctrines were received, where many policies and organizations came into being. It is a place of firsts: the first First Presidency was organized, the first bishop called, the first stake and the first high council organized. The first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was published; the first School of the Prophets met.

But there is also much in Kirtland that sets the faith into the context of its times — much to be learned about early building methods, early commerce and daily life in the 1830s.

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You may first see this Kirtland through the eyes of Ann Whitney, the wife of early settler and later church stalwart Newel K. Whitney. A film at the visitors center shares her point of view: Moving to Kirtland, establishing a store, looking for a spiritual presence in her life and finding it in the early church and then helping to build the little religious community.

From there, a natural place to start your tour of the village is at the home where the Whitneys lived, but also where Joseph and Emma stayed when they first arrived. It's a charming little house and easily evokes images of a happy family living there.

The Newel K. Whitney store, built in 1826, still has original floors and walls. Over the course of its life it had been used as other things, including a bar, so some restoration was needed. On the main floor, bonnets and bottles line the shelves and giant barrels of rice and beans are scattered about.