Church History Sites—Separating Fiction and Fact

It’s the difference between myths and maps.

Tradition has located many Church historic sites—such as the supposed precise location of the log cabin where Joseph Smith was visited by the Angel Moroni. And where Brigham Young was born, where “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” was written, where the actual Sacred Grove is located. While tradition may be correct, some Brigham Young University researchers want to make sure.

Using infrared aerial and ground photographs taken last spring, researchers will begin working at the Adam-ondi-Ahman site in Missouri this July and August, phase two of a project that may pinpoint where some events in Church history actually happened.

With approval from the First Presidency, the researchers will use a non-destructive “ground truth verification” electrical process that determines if something is underneath the surface of the ground. From those findings, they will map the area.

“There has been a lot of interest in Book of Mormon geography, and now we’re trying to have the same kind of interest in Church history,” says Lamar C. Berrett, director of LDS Church history at BYU’s Religious Studies Center and a member of the Historical Arts and Sites Subcommittee of the Church Historical Department.

“We have not known where the log cabin was where Moroni appeared, or where Joseph Smith lived in Palmyra, or if there were two altars at Adam-ondi-Ahman,” Brother Berrett says. “We’re just trying to discover the truth of that.”

He emphasizes that the research is not undertaken to verify whether events in Church history happened—he does not doubt their authenticity. “But there have been too many questions unanswered over the years, too much tradition, too much legend, regarding the location of sites. So we want to get at the facts.” It bothers him, he says, when people claim to know locations that have not been determined.

With financial donations from BYU’s Research Division, the Church Historical Department, the Religious Studies Center, and private donors, many Church sites were photographed last spring on infrared, color, and black-and-white film. Brother Berrett, BYU archaeologist Dr. Ray T. Matheny, and Don James, chairman of Utah Technical College’s electronics department, photographed sites in Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa.

Brother Berrett hopes that the work will help pinpoint sites through variations in heat that show up in the pictures. The site where a log cabin stood will appear different from other terrain through infrared photography. However, making a map from the photographs isn’t a simple procedure.

Only after the ground-verification phase of work is completed can actual archaeological excavation take place at the sites. Then, with approval and with funding, restoration work would be possible, and accurate history could be written.

Brother Berrett says that researchers have considerable hope that the Adam-ondi-Ahman layout can be reconstructed on a map. The site of the temple, which was never built, has not been ascertained.

Although the corners of the proposed temple were marked only with sticks, the temple site could be determined if nearby homes are located.

Visitors to Adam-ondi-Ahman now see only the foundation of the Lyman Wight residence, but other sites have been located. In one day at Adam-ondi-Ahman in 1978, Brothers Matheny and Berrett—without special equipment found six cabin sites and six or seven wells.

The infrared photographs are being made available to those engaged in research on Church sites. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has expressed interest in using the photographs as they proceed with archaeological research on the Haun’s Mill Massacre site in Missouri.

Mapping and excavation work are not planned at any of the other photographed sites throughout the United States, but such work might be possible, with approval and funding, Brother Berrett says.

“We’ll just have to take it a bite at a time.”