"Finger Lakes" Theory of Book of Mormon Geography

[John Hamer]

When Joseph Smith obtained the golden plates at the Hill Cumorah on September 22, 1827, he and his wife Emma were living nearby on his parents’ farm on the border between the townships of Manchester and Palmyra, New York. That December, the couple moved to Emma’s parents’ farm in Harmony, Pennsylvania. The plates came with them, said to be hidden in a barrel of beans. Joseph began the process of translation that winter, with Emma acting as his principle scribe. In April of 1828, Martin Harris of Palmyra arrived in Harmony and took over the role of scribe. By that June, Joseph was persuaded to allow Martin to take the first 116 pages of the manuscript back to Palmyra. In July, Joseph joined Martin in Palmyra and learned that the manuscript had been lost. This ended work on the translation for several months as Joseph returned to farming in Harmony. Translation began again by the winter of 1828-29 at the point the text had reached prior the loss of the 116 pages, with Emma and Samuel Smith acting as scribes. In April of 1829, Oliver Cowdery, who had been living with Joseph’s parents, traveled from Manchester to Harmony. Along the way, Oliver visited the Whitmer family in Fayette, New York. (He had met David Whitmer the year before in Palmyra.) Arriving in Harmony, Oliver took over as Joseph’s principle scribe and the pace of translation quickened appreciably. By the end of May, Joseph came to the conclusion of what would become the Book of Mormon and began the translation of the book’s beginning section which would replace the lost 116 pages. At the beginning of June, David Whitmer arrived in Harmony to help Joseph, Emma and Oliver move from Harmony to the Whitmer farm in Fayette. Shortly after establishing himself in Fayette, Joseph traveled to Palmyra where he and Martin Harris proposed that local printer Egbert Grandin publish the forthcoming Book of Mormon. By mid-June, Joseph was back in Fayette and the work of translation was completed by early July, and by August the printing of the Book of Mormon had begun. What if the geography of the Book of Mormon was likewise inspired by the locations surrounding Joseph’s life during the translation?



The bulk of the Book of Mormon narrative takes place in a region around the city of Zarahemla, which is “southward” from the Hill Cumorah, across a “narrow neck of land” separated by two seas (east and west). Given the fact that the Hill Cumorah is the only site in the text that was explicitly identified by the author at the time of the book's composition, it is interesting to note that a “narrow neck of land” between two bodies of water (east and west) does exist just to the hill’s southeast. This neck is the isthmus formed by Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake — the two largest of New York’s Finger Lakes. These two freshwater lakes are both approximately the same size as the freshwater lake which the Bible names the “Sea of Galilee.” Seneca Lake has a surface area of 67 square miles; Cayuga Lake and the Sea of Galilee both have a surface area of 64 square miles. The Book of Mormon never uses the term “lake” to refer to a body of water, and so we might plausibly identify these lakes as Book of Mormon “seas.”

It is also intriguing to note that the most direct route between Palmyra, New York and Harmony, Pennsylvania crosses the isthmus between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake, and that Joseph would have crossed it many times in the course of his translation work. Taking this correlation southward, it is tempting to identify the Book of Mormon’s principle city, Zarahemla, with the farm of Joseph’s in-laws, the Hales. In the text, Zarahemla is set near a river, called the Sidon. The Hales’ farm was located near one of the largest rivers in the area, the Susquehanna. The Book of Mormon does not describe the outlet of the River Sidon, which seems to be outside the area of its principle narrative. The Susquehanna’s outlet in Maryland was certainly outside the range of Joseph’s experience. The text does describe the important city of Manti, which was up the River Sidon from Zarahemla. It is again tempting to link this city with the area around Colesville and South Bainbridge, New York — home of Joseph’s frequent benefactor, Joseph Knight.
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Is this idea fun and clever? Sure. Does it have any explanatory value in understanding the Book of Mormon. No. What are the chances that Joseph Smith had this map in mind when composing the Book of Mormon? Zero. None of the limited geography theories have any historical merit and this is no different. In posting this, will someone somewhere now believe this is the real map? Yes, because we are in a post-truth, post-expertise universe where people imagine that individual "belief" alone is meaningful.

[Equality]

A John Hamer sighting! I am so here for this.

Great post.

I think there is at least as much support for the notion that this is the map Joseph Smith had in mind for the Book of Mormon as there is for the theory that the Italian peninsula was the setting.

[Shulem]

Yeah, I concur, it was a great post.

I view the geography of the Book of Mormon as being important/critical ONLY when taking into consideration that the story is a genuine historical event. If the latter is not so then the former doesn't matter much. Or in other words, if the book is fiction then nothing about the geography matters. It's only to those who embrace the book as a historical account that geography comes into play. And with that should be archeological remains to verify those claims.

[Dr Exiled]

I think there is no doubt the thing was made up. However, what inspired the geography in the fiction book is an interesting question. It's interesting because so many still cling to literalness when there isn't proof for it.

As fiction writers sometimes get inspired by surroundings, the same must have happened to Joseph Smith. I like Shulem's theory and how the Delaware area fits. The finger lakes fit too in some respects and it is closer to Joseph Smith. However, perhaps there was a decided effort to place the story somewhere else to keep people off of the scent? Having the story take place not so close would avoid claims that Joseph Smith just looked outside of his house and used that for his fiction book? I don't know what motivated the guy and more historical evidence is needed.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I think there is no doubt the thing was made up. However, what inspired the geography in the fiction book is an interesting question. It's interesting because so many still cling to literalness when there isn't proof for it.

As fiction writers sometimes get inspired by surroundings, the same must have happened to Joseph Smith. I like Shulem's theory and how the Delaware area fits. The finger lakes fit too in some respects and it is closer to Joseph Smith. However, perhaps there was a decided effort to place the story somewhere else to keep people off of the scent? Having the story take place not so close would avoid claims that Joseph Smith just looked outside of his house and used that for his fiction book? I don't know what motivated the guy and more historical evidence is needed.

It’s pretty clear Joseph Smith’s story is a pastiche of sources and places he had access to. What I love about the DRT is how it connects to Joseph Smith’s plagiarism of the Late War. You can see he copped meta material from View of the Hebrews, the narrative framework of the Late War, and inserted place names from his in real life experiences. A LGT doesn’t have to reflect a hard reality any more than Westeros has to connect to the British Isles as a perfect geographic match. But it sure is helpful to see what Joseph Smith had in his mind’s eye when writing Alma, for example. What Shulem’s leg work here has done for me, at least, is to put everything into sharp relief.

- Doc

[Shulem]

What Shulem’s leg work here has done for me, at least, is to put everything into sharp relief.

I'm glad that you see the big picture clearly for what it is. The problem is that apologists have been poisoning the well for so long it's made it impossible for people to see it for what it is. That narrow neck puts everything to task and jettisons all the fake models presented by apologists. It shows that Smith was in fact writing fiction. The narrow neck really is the key.

[Shulem]

Where is Hagoth's shipyard on your map? I don't see that one.

[Shulem]

It's curious that your map shows Ablom as the furthest western abode when the story tells us that they passed the hills Shim and Cumorah and then traveled EAST (for an undisclosed period of time) until they arrived at the seashore where Jared pitched his tent.

[drumdude]

I often see RFM and others making the argument that LDS apologists push the Mezoamerica theory so hard because it better fits the historical facts about ancient America. They point to the fact that there was writing in Mezoamerica but not around New York.

Is this actually the reason for DCP pushing the Mezoamerica argument so hard? There is just as little evidence in Guatamala as there is in New York. No matter where you place Zarahemla, it is still a complete anachronism.

[Moksha]

Is the Susquehanna where Hagoth sailed his ship?

Do any Book of Mormonologists have possible locations picked out for the Shire and Honalee?