Hill Cumorah

The events that took place at the Hill Cumorah were foundational to the establishment of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Directed by the angel Moroni, Joseph Smith found the golden plates deposited in the hill on September 22, 1823. Joseph then met the angel there on the same date for the next three years until he was finally allowed to obtain the plates on September 22, 1827. From those plates, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God. The site includes a variety of trails, the Angel Moroni Monument, and a visitors’ center.

Although it is commonly known as the Hill Cumorah, this name was not used sometime after the pivotal events of 1823–1827. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, many residents of Wayne and Ontario Counties referred to it as “Gold Bible Hill” and “Mormon Hill.” However, many early members of the Church, including some of Joseph Smith’s closest friends and family members, referred to the hill as “Cumorah” at various times in Joseph Smith’s lifetime. This is likely because Moroni, the Book of Mormon’s final author and the angel who met with Joseph Smith, wrote that he would “hide up the record in the earth” once he had finished adding a few words of his own (see Mormon 8:4, 14). Since this passage follows Moroni’s account of the great final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites, which occurred at a hill called Cumorah, many assumed that Moroni buried the plates in the same hill (see Mormon 8:2–4) and it was there that Joseph later received the record. One of Joseph Smith’s later letters likewise refers to the “glad tiding from Cumorah” and the visit of “Moroni, an angel from heaven” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:20). While the Church “does not take a position on the specific geographic locations of Book of Mormon events in the ancient Americas,” records kept by Joseph Smith and his contemporaries make it clear that this hill is the place where Joseph Smith met with Moroni and where Joseph received the plates containing the Book of Mormon (see Gospel Topics: Book of Mormon Geography).