Cumorah

The Hill Cumorah

by Robert Rosskopf

There is strong evidence that the hill in upstate New York, commonly known as the Hill Cumorah, is not the hill mentioned in the Book of Mormon, where the last great battles of the Nephite/Lamanite wars occurred.

Moroni, who buried the gold plates, never tells us where he intended to bury the plates.
Moroni does tell us that he is leaving his home country because the Lamanites are executing any Nephites that they find who do not deny Christ.
The original Hill Cumorah has a cave where other records are hidden; it is doubtful that Moroni would build a stone box if another repository was available.
The hill in Upstate New York is a glacial deposit of rock and dirt; it wouldn't have any natural caves, nor have any been found.
The hill Cumorah was located in the Land of Cumorah; the hill in Upstate New York is only 110 feet tall - it wasn't even deemed worthy of its own name until 1829. It isn't prominent enough of a feature to have a land named after it.
There is no water on or near the hill in Upstate New York. The number one priority for sizable armies is a source of fresh water. The Book of Mormon tells us explicitly that the Hill Cumorah was in a land of rivers, springs and lakes.
The next important priority is a source of food. The hill in Upstate New York could hardly be considered a source of food for 100,000 men.
The hill in Upstate New York is one of hundreds of similarly sized hills, with no distinguishing features. One wonders how anyone, having buried something on the hill, would ever find the hill again, or why this one hill out of hundreds of similar hills would hold any strategic military advantage.

Joseph Smith is not recorded as ever referring to the hill where he discovered the plates as the Hill Cumorah. Nor was I able to find any evidence that the hill in Upstate New York was called the Hill Cumorah in Joseph Smith's lifetime by any of the quorum of the twelve. The association appears to be a late addition to LDS history without any known providence.