HILL CUMORAH. The gold plates, from which the Book of Mormon was translated, were buried in a hill located in the township of Manchester, New York, about three miles southeast of the Joseph Smith Sr. farm. Just when this hill was first called Cumorah is difficult to determine, but by 1835 the name Cumorah seemed to be well known, at least among Church members. The U.S. Geological Survey of 1898 called the hill "Mormon Hill," and in 1952 the name appeared in the survey as "Hill Cumorah."

Mormon and Moroni are the only Book of Mormon writers to use the name Cumorah, and all references to it are associated with the hiding of the Nephite records and the destruction of the Nephite and Jaredite nations. We know of only one time when Joseph Smith used "Cumorah" in his personal writings (D&C 128:20). Some scholars suggest that the name Cumerah means "Arise-O-Light" or "Arise-Revelation" (Palmer, 21).

Those who assume that the final Book of Mormon events took place in what is now the northeastern United States believe that the hill in upstate New York is the only hill called Cumorah. Others conclude there must be two hills called Cumorah: one in Central America, where they believe the final battles of the Book of Mormon took place; and the other in New York, where Moroni ultimately buried the gold plates he later delivered to Joseph Smith.