More than 60 people gathered to attend the 2nd Zion’s Camp Tour and Talk on October 11, 2025. Both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and those from the Restoration Branches of the Church of Jesus Christ (*RLDS) attended the Saturday morning event, which spanned both the Doug and Deanne Walker’s and Nathan and Katrina MacDonald’s properties. The Walkers and MacDonalds are members of the LDS Church.

The Walkers shared stories of Zion’s Camp and those who camped on the site back in the 1800s. Clay County Commissioner Jay Johnson, who is a member of the RLDS Church, spoke about his third great-grandparents who owned the property during Zion’s Camp days and how they helped bury those affected with cholera. One of Johnson’s own third great-grandfathers (Noah Johnson), after burying those who had died, contracted cholera himself and was later buried alongside them. Johnson shared the promise Joseph Smith had given his ancestors. 

“The Burketts owned the land that Zion’s Camp was on. You can actually see the property right over there with the yellow house (points to the house across the street), that was their property,” Johnson said. “The Prophet Joseph Smith promised my Grandfather and Grandmother Burkett that if they helped Zion’s Camp, no one living at their house would die of cholera. And no one from their household did die. They did have one daughter who was already married and didn’t live with them. Her husband Noah Johnson, my other great-grandfather, unfortunately did die.”

Johnson and the Walkers showed the group the location of the gravesite and shared their feelings about how special the land was. 

An interesting story happened on the day of the tour and talk. A couple who were visiting the area church history sites thought they would drive up to where Zion’s Camp was located. Knowing it was on private land, they thought they might just get a glimpse from the road. That’s when they stumbled upon the tour and talk. As Johnson had mentioned earlier in his talk: “There are no coincidences.”

*RLDS is a term that members of the Restoration Branches of the Church of Jesus Christ use to refer to themselves. Many of these congregants were members of the now defunct Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before that church became the Community of Christ church in 2001.