Joseph Smith Identifies Adam-ondi-Ahman — The Ancient Altar Where Adam Blessed His Posterity (May 1838)

In May 1838, while exploring Daviess County in northwestern Missouri, Joseph Smith identified a location that he declared by revelation to be one of the most sacred sites on earth. Standing on a bluff overlooking the Grand River, Joseph pointed to a nearby hill — which he named "Tower Hill" because of the remains of an ancient stone altar found there — and declared that this was the place where Adam, after being driven from the Garden of Eden, had gathered his righteous posterity to bless them.

Joseph named the area "Adam-ondi-Ahman" — a name he said was given by revelation, meaning, according to later interpreters, "the place or land of Adam where Adam dwelt" or "Adam's valley." He identified the stone altar on Tower Hill as having been built by Adam himself, an ancient relic of the earliest days of humanity preserved on the American continent.

The identification of Adam-ondi-Ahman was not arrived at by archaeological study or historical research but by direct spiritual revelation. Joseph, walking the land, recognized it by the Spirit as the very site described in the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel and in latter-day scripture — the place where the Ancient of Days (Adam) would one day sit in council with a vast assembly of the righteous prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Joseph taught that Adam-ondi-Ahman was the site of a future great gathering: three years before Christ's return, Adam, along with prophets and priesthood holders from every dispensation, would assemble at this very location for a grand council. There, Adam would turn the keys of his dispensation over to Christ, preparing the way for the Savior's return in glory.

The discovery of Adam-ondi-Ahman in May 1838 was part of Joseph's broader exploration of the "land of Zion" in northern Missouri. He also identified Spring Hill (a few miles south) as the location where a future temple would be built, and the Saints began settling the area, founding the town of Adam-ondi-Ahman. Though the Saints were driven from Missouri later that year and the settlement was abandoned, the site remains identified and revered by Latter-day Saints as one of the most sacred locations on earth.

This is a remarkable instance of divine revelation identifying an ancient sacred site — not through excavation or scholarship, but through the Spirit giving Joseph Smith direct knowledge of events from the dawn of human history, and prophetic foreknowledge of events yet to come at the close of the earth's history.