Global InformationCumorah information
| Cumorah | |
|---|---|
 Photograph of the hill by George Edward Anderson, 1907 | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 682 feet (208 m)[1] |
| Coordinates | 42°59′40″N 77°13′13″W / 42.9945075°N 77.2202583°W[1] |
| Geography | |
  Cumorah Location of Cumorah within New York  Cumorah Cumorah (the United States) | |
| Location | S of Palmyra, Ontario County, New York, U.S. |
| Topo map | USGS Clifton Springs |
Cumorah (/kəˈmɔːrə/;[2] also known as Mormon Hill,[3][4][5] Gold Bible Hill,[6][7] and Inspiration Point)[3] is a drumlin in Palmyra, New York, United States,[8] where Joseph Smith said he found a set of golden plates which he translated into English and published as the Book of Mormon.
In the text of the Book of Mormon, "Cumorah" is a hill located in a land of the same name, which is "a land of many waters, rivers and fountains".[9] In this hill, a Book of Mormon figure, Mormon, deposited a number of metal plates containing the record of his nation of Nephites,[10] just prior to their final battle with the Lamanites in which at least 230,000 people were killed.[11]
Early Latter Day Saints assumed that the Cumorah in New York was the same Cumorah described in the Book of Mormon, based largely on a letter written by Oliver Cowdery (Letter VII), published in the July 1835 Messenger and Advocate[12] and reprinted several times at the direction of Joseph Smith.[13] In the early 20th century, scholars from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) began to speculate that there were two such hills and that final battle in the Book of Mormon took place on a hill in southern Mexico, Central America, or South America.[14] The LDS Church has no official position on the matter,[15] and while these hypotheses are not held by some leaders and members of the LDS Church,[16] they are firmly espoused by others.[17]
In the official account of Joseph Smith it is stated that Manchester, Ontario County, New York, is the location of the encounter with Angel Moroni.[18]
- ^ a b "Hill Cumorah". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
- ^ "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide", churchofjesuschrist.org (retrieved 2012-02-25); IPA-ified from «ka-mōr´a»
- ^ a b A. P. Kesler, "Mormon Hill", Young Woman's Journal, 9:73 (February 1898).
- ^ "Thomas Cook History, 1930", in Dan Vogel ed. (2000). Early Mormon Documents, vol. 3 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books ISBN 1-56085-133-3) pp. 243–50.
- ^ Andrew Jenson, Conference Report (April 1917) p. 99.
- ^ "A Looked-for Exposure: Secrets of the Original Mormon Bible", The New York Times, 1888-02-26.
- ^ Bruce E. Dana (2003). Glad Tidings Near Cumorah (CFI, ISBN 978-1-55517-723-2) pp. 58–60.
- ^ "Hill Cumorah (New York)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ Mormon 6:4
- ^ Mormon 6:6. The plates that Mormon buried were the plates he had abridged into what he called the "Book of Mormon". This smaller set of plates were not buried by Mormon but were given to Mormon's son Moroni.
- ^ Mormon 6:11–15
- ^ "Address". contentdm.lib.byu.edu.
- ^ "History, 1834–1836, Page 79". www.josephsmithpapers.org.
- ^ Roper, Matthew, "Limited Geography and the Book of Mormon: Historical Antecedents and Early Interpretations", Maxwell Institute, 2004, cites early Limited Mesoamerican settings for the Book of Mormon advanced by Hills, L. E. (RLDS), "Geography of Mexico and Central America from 2234 B.C. to 421 A.D.", Independence, Missouri, 1917; Hills, "A Short Work on the Popol Vuh and the Traditional History of the Ancient Americans", Independence, Missouri, 1918; and Hills, "New Light on American Archaeology", Independence, Missouri, 1924; and also Gunsolley, J. F. (RLDS), "More Comment on Book of Mormon Geography", Saints Herald, vol. 69, no. 46, 1922, pp. 1074–76. See also the South American setting proposed by Priddis, Venice (LDS), The Book and the Map, 1975, ch. 11, "Mormon, Moroni and Cumorah", pp. 153–57.
- ^ [1], Correspondence from F. Michael Watson, 23 April 1993, cited with commentary in William J. Hamblin, "Basic Methodological Problems with the Anti-Mormon Approach to the Geography and Archaeology of the Book of Mormon," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2(1) (1993): 161–97, accessed 13 September 2009. See also Book of Mormon geography/Statements/First Presidency "First Presidency Letter" on the FAIR LDS Wiki.
- ^ On the subject of a Mesoamerican Cumorah, apostle Joseph Fielding Smith wrote in 1956:
Apostle Mark E. Petersen stated:It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed. This hill was known to the Jaredites as Ramah. It was approximately near to the waters of Ripliancum, which the Book of Ether says, "by interpretation, is large or to exceed all." ... It must be conceded that this description fits perfectly the land of Cumorah in New York ... for the hill is in the proximity of the Great Lakes, and also in the land of many rivers and fountains. (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, pp. 233–34).
Bruce R. McConkie wrote:I do not believe that there were two Hill Cumorahs, one in Central America and the other one up in New York, for the convenience of the Prophet Joseph Smith, so that the poor boy would not have to walk clear to Central America to get the gold plates. (123rd Annual Conference of the LDS Church, April 4–6, 1953, Conference Report, pp. 83–84; Improvement Era, June 1953, p. 423).
Both the Nephite and the Jaredite civilizations fought their final great wars of extinction at and near the Hill Cumorah (or Ramah as the Jaredites termed it), which hill is located between Palmyra and Manchester in the western part of the state of New York ... Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and many early brethren, who were familiar with the circumstances attending the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in this dispensation, have left us pointed testimony as to the identity and location of Cumorah or Ramah. (Mormon Doctrine, s.v. "Cumorah", p. 175).
- ^ William J. Hamblin, "Basic Methodological Problems with the Anti-Mormon Approach to the Geography and Archaeology of the Book of Mormon," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2(1) (1993): 161–97.
- ^ The Pearl Of Great Price (PDF). Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. 2013. p. 54.