Joseph Smith describes the area where he found the golden plates.
Joseph Smith, History, circa June 1839–circa 1841 [Draft 2], p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers website, accessed August 11, 2021
Convenient to the little village of Manchester, Ontario County, New York, Stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated an any in the neighborhood, On the west side of this hell not far from the top> Under a stound stone of considerable size, lay the plates deposited in a stone box, This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all round was covered with earth. Having removed the earth off the edge of the stone, and obtained a lever which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up, I looked in and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummin and the Breastplate as stated by the messenger The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement, in the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.