South Royalton (VT) Ward

This guest article was written by Ryan Hallstrom. He's from Upstate New York and is an editor at McGoff Media. He enjoys writing about religion, the history of ritual, and sacred architecture.

The Church’s Joseph Smith Birthplace historic site is tucked away in the small community of South Royalton, Vermont. While remote, the Church has taken painstaking effort to make this pilgrimage destination both grand and cozy. Besides the monumental 38.5-foot-tall granite obelisk dedicated “sacred to the memory of Joseph Smith,” there is a boulevard lined by stately maple trees, some planted by the first leader of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, Junius Wells, in 1906 (source).  Near the entrance to the site is an impressive meetinghouse perched on a hill.

A local member told me that she thought that the chapel was built in the 1960s. That makes sense architecturally and because that’s when the nearby visitor’s center was built as part of the 1961 redesigns (source).

Let’s look at the back of the building first. This is the side you’d see from the parking lot. On your left is the wing that houses the family history center and the Primary room.

In the center (the part with the columns) are foyers and the Relief Society room, and on the right side is the gym (ok, “cultural hall”), the modern chapel, classrooms, and another foyer.

 There is a pair of staircases leading down to the back entrance.

 

The tall steeple is impressive, even from this angle.

 

Directly across from the parking lot is a small historic cemetery. While it’s not a graveyard (this Church building isn’t that old), and the proximity is almost certainly a coincidence, to me at least, it helps the meetinghouse feel more historical than it actually is.

The family history center entrance has a small porch, two round porthole windows, and a little cupola on top.

Moving around to the front side of the building, there’s a bay window and, noticeably, a boarded-up window. A senior missionary I spoke to seemed embarrassed by the broken window. I think it’s something that will eventually be fixed.

 

Broken window aside, it seems clear to me that the front of the building was built to be impressive.

First off, there is a circular driveway, which I imagine doesn’t get much use since it’s easier to get to the parking lot behind the building using the main road.

Leading up from the circular drive is a grand staircase flanked by small cement newel posts that look kind of like pawns from a chess set. The stone-floored porch is supported by six Doric columns. On the left side of the building are three dormer windows.

The front doors are recessed a bit and are topped with a broken pediment with an elevated urn at the apex.

Entering in through the front door (the door on the side with the circular driveway) is a small foyer with a barrel-vaulted ceiling and two recessed benches built into the wall.

Then, directly through another set of doors is the Relief Society room. While I’m not sure, I think that this room was originally the chapel, given its central location. Hanging in this meetinghouse are several unique pieces of art, including a commemorative plate in this room.

Behind the Relief Society room, there’s a small foyer. It appears that this is where most people enter the building from the parking lot.

 

Down the hall, towards the family history center, the Primary room has a porthole window and a large bay window.

 

Going back past the Relief Society room, you’ll see another port window, pass some classrooms and the gym, and come to another foyer just outside the chapel.

Down the hall, I found this interesting print(?) hanging on the wall in one of the classrooms.

 

Finally, we reach the chapel. This room appears to be created from more of a standardized design than much of the rest of the building. (Another reason that leads me to believe that the RS room was originally the chapel.

 

The historic South Royalton ward building on the grounds of the Joseph Smith Birthplace memorial is an interesting specimen of mid-twentieth century Church architecture. While it has obviously had updates and additions over the years, I think that it is an excellent example of how adding just a few elements from classical architectural can make a meetinghouse feel more inviting for Latter-day Saints and others interested in learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.