The Hill Cumorah

The hill named “Cumorah” is the site of Joseph’s annual visits with the angel Moroni, and where he obtained the gold plates.

The hill was not known by the name “Cumorah” at the time Joseph was first visited by Moroni.¹ Joseph says in his history, “Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood.”² The hill took on the name “Cumorah” “because Moroni, the Book of Mormon’s final author and the angel who met with Joseph Smith, wrote that he had hidden the gold plates in a hill called Cumorah.”³

According to Google Maps, a straight line from the Smith Family Farm to the Hill Cumorah is about 2.6 miles. Using current roads, it takes about 5 minutes to drive from the farm to the Hill Cumorah. During my family’s visit in July 2018, we were able to walk to the top of the hill and see the monument that is there now. It is currently heavily forested, and has a steep slope. At the time of our visit, the Hill Cumorah Pageant was still in production, and from one of the photos below (with my wife and daughter in the foreground) you can see the set of the pageant and the steepness of the hill behind it.

The Hill Cumorah Pageant

For many years, the Hill Cumorah Pageant re-enacted the history of Joseph obtaining the gold plates, as well as the history of the Book of Mormon. But in 2020, the pageant was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. After consideration, the Church decided to discontinue the pageant permanently. Ultimately, it was due to what sounds to me like a cost-benefit analysis: “The First Presidency determined that in an increasingly worldwide Church, they could not justify the cost of current and future maintenance, security and safety upgrades running into several millions of dollars when only a relative handful of members and visitors would benefit from the experience.”⁴

Thankfully, in 2019, the pageant was recorded, and is available to watch on the Church’s media website.⁵ We took many pictures of the pageant, and in this image, we see the scene from 3 Nephi 11, when the Savior visits the American continent:

It was a beautiful production with thousands of volunteers. This picture shows the scope and “pageantry” of the event.

The History of Hill Cumorah

It is well-known that in 1847, the Church began its trek west and settlement in Utah. It wasn’t until approximately 1907 that Elder George Albert Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Lucy, left Salt Lake City with a charge by Church leaders to buy the Hill Cumorah and the Smith Family Farm.⁶ A picture taken around that same time shows that the hill was being used primarily as a pasture:

A great article written by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel details the earliest images of the hill:⁷

The Church is working to preserve the Hill Cumorah, and return it to the condition as it was when Joseph visited. There are some great articles in the Church News that detail these efforts.⁸

The Legacy of Cumorah

Cumorah has come to symbolize many things for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As the site where Joseph Smith found the gold plates and met annually with the angel Moroni, it is a symbol of Joseph’s faith, sacrifice, and dedication. Not only did he work diligently to become worthy to obtain the plates, but after he obtained them he faced significant persecution from those who tried to take the plates from him.

A musician named Kenneth Cope, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrote an album called, “My Servant Joseph,”⁹ a musical program that walks through Joseph’s life and ultimate sacrifice. In a song titled, “Go With Me,” we hear the invitation to go with Joseph to Cumorah:

Would to God that all

Could speak the mind and will of heaven

None would need be taught

To know the kingdom come again

Why will man not hearken

God can make you free

Why not believe

Believe

Significant effort was made by Joseph to be worthy to obtain the plates, and the Church has made a significant effort to preserve the hill where that was accomplished. We can make a similar sacrifice by working to be worthy to obtain our own revelations and know for ourselves. It requires sacrifice, humility, faith, diligence, and a list of other Christ-like attributes. If we will make the effort, we can see, and hear, and know for ourselves.¹⁰

References

1. “Hill Cumorah,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/locations/hill-cumorah?lang=eng
2. Joseph Smith-History 1:51.
3. “Hill Cumorah,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/locations/hill-cumorah?lang=eng.
4. Rachel Sterzer Gibson, “Elder Christofferson explains why the Hill Cumorah Pageant was a blessing and why it ended,” Church News, July 9, 2021, https://www.thechurchnews.com/2021/7/9/23218135/elder-christofferson-devotional-why-hill-cumorah-pageant-ended.
5. Hill Cumorah Pageant, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2021-06-1000-hill-cumorah-pageant?lang=eng.
6. Curtis Ashton, “Reclaiming Hill Cumorah,” February 25, 2019, https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/historic-sites/new-york/manchester/reclaiming-hill-cumorah?lang=eng.
7. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, “A Story on Canvas, Paper, and Glass: The Early Visual Images of the Hill Cumorah,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol 13, No. 1, Article 3, https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1357&context=jbms.
8. “How the Church Is Preserving the Historic, Sacred Nature of the Hill Cumorah,” Church News, June 11, 2021, https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-curtis-hill-cumorah-preservation; see also Curtis Ashton, “Reclaiming Hill Cumorah,” https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/historic-sites/new-york/manchester/reclaiming-hill-cumorah.
9. Kenneth Cope, “My Servant Joseph,” 1993/2005, https://kennethcope.com/albums/my-servant-joseph/.
10. 3 Nephi 17:25, “And the multitude did see and hear and bear record; and they know that their record is true for they all of them did see and hear.”