The Smith family built a cooper shop on Stafford Road where, under the direction of Joseph Smith Sr., a competent cooper, they made and repaired barrels, kegs, buckets, and tubs for a ready local market, especially maple sugar and apple cider producers. During October 1827, the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated were hidden in the loft of the cooper shop to protect them from a curious mob. When Joseph received another intimation that a mob was approaching and that the record and breastplate had to be moved again, he carried them to a cooper shop across the road, removed them from the box, wrapped them carefully in cloths, and laid them in the midst of flax stored in the loft. He then nailed up the box as before, tore up the floor, and put the box under it. After dark the mob came and ransacked the place, and the next morning the floor of the cooper shop was found taken up and the wooden box beneath it split to pieces.