At 2 o’clock, you’re in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. At 2:01, you’re in Manchester, New York, in the Sacred Grove. A group of Brigham Young University professors have created a way for it to happen, and we’re not talking teleportation.
“Hallowed Ground, Sacred Tours” is a collection of text, photos, videos and virtual reality tours posted on an interactive website, virtualtours.byu.edu, that allow anyone with a computer and Internet access to visit dozens of Church history sites without ever boarding a plane, train or bus.
The idea for the project was conceived in 2001. Since then, the BYU religious education professors behind the work have been in front of the camera, taping footage of Church history sites in places like Utah, New York and Pennsylvania.
“We would like to go to Kirtland, Missouri, Nauvoo and just keep going as long as we have donors that will support it,” said John Livingstone, BYU associate professor and executive producer of the project. “All of it has been done with help of the donors, so it’s all non-profit. … Any money we do make just goes back into the BYU project.”
The footage and other material was first compiled into a book and accompanying DVD called “Salt Lake City, Ensign to the Nations.” Now all the content from the book and DVD, plus much more, is available for free on the website.
___________________________________________________________________