Elder Bednar Dedicates the Refurbished Hill Cumorah Historic Site

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the refurbished Hill Cumorah historic site in Palmyra, New York, on Sunday, September 21, 2025. The Prophet Joseph Smith was visited here in the 1820s by an angel named Moroni and given the gold plates that contained the record now known as the Book of Mormon.

In his dedicatory prayer, given to around 500 guests and a global broadcast audience, Elder Bednar of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said, “I dedicate this site as a place of holy remembrance, a place of heavenly inspiration, a place of heartfelt appreciation, a place of seeking and learning, and a place of humble reverence.”

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The Apostle asked God “to bless all people who come to this place with curious and open minds and with sincere and receptive hearts. May they be blessed to learn here eternal truths by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

In his remarks that preceded the prayer, Elder Bednar compared the Hill Cumorah to the burning bush of the Hebrew Bible (see Exodus 3). It was at that bush on Mt. Horeb that Moses had an encounter with the divine. Moses was told to remove his shoes because he stood on holy ground.

“Today, you and I also stand on holy ground,” Elder Bednar said.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ believe that the Book of Mormon was originally written in an ancient language on metal plates, often called gold plates. The final prophet to write in the book, Moroni, buried the plates in the hill now known as Cumorah around A.D. 420. Some 1,400 years later, Moroni, then an angel sent from heaven, guided the young Joseph Smith to the plates. The angel Moroni first visited Joseph exactly 202 years ago, on September 21, 1823, when Joseph was 17. Moroni showed him the gold plates for the first time the following day. On September 22, 1827, after four years of preparation, Joseph was allowed to take the plates from the hill. He translated the record into English by the gift and power of God.

The Book of Mormon’s witness of Jesus Christ is published today in more than 100 languages.

Elder Bednar was accompanied Sunday by his wife, Susan, and several Church leaders: Elder Kyle S. McKay of the Seventy (the Church Historian and Recorder) and his wife, Jennifer; and Elder Hugo E. Martinez of the Seventy (assistant executive director of the Church History Department) and his wife, Nuria.

Elder Bednar called Moroni’s many visits to Joseph Smith a part of the prophet’s “celestial curriculum” that prepared him for what was ahead. Reflecting on that idea, Elder Martinez said the curriculum began with Joseph’s First Vision and continued through his receiving priesthood authority from other divine messengers.

“It’s through those steps that we see and find that that’s how the young prophet grew as a true prophet of God,” Elder Martinez said. He added that the Hill Cumorah matters because it is a part of how God ushered in “the restoration of the fulness of time as has been spoken of in the Bible, the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture.”

The Church of Jesus Christ has welcomed visitors to the hill since 1928, when it completed the purchase of the property. Elder Bednar briefly highlighted the lives of Willard and Rebecca Bean, who served as missionaries in the area for over two decades in the early 1900s. Willard was instrumental in the Church’s acquisition of the Hill Cumorah.

A monument featuring a statue of the angel Moroni was dedicated on the hill in 1935. From 1935 until 2019, the hill was the site of a pageant celebrating the Book of Mormon and the Church’s history. The pageant attracted tens of thousands of visitors each year. Elder Bednar noted with gratitude the efforts of pageant volunteers through the decades.

The hill is now being reforested to help visitors focus more on its historical and spiritual significance. That long-term project began in 2021. Twenty-three buildings used to support the pageant were removed from the hill, including restrooms, a costume shop, cast changing rooms, storage sheds, an RV park and industrial kitchen facility for cast and crew, and an administration building. Approximately 400,000 square feet (over nine acres) of asphalt, gravel roads, parking areas, and paths were also removed. The area is being reforested with thousands of native tree seeds, which will one day be a mature forest that more closely resembles what Joseph Smith would have seen in the early 1800s.

“In many of the photographs [of the hill], we see a bare Hill Cumorah, but during Joseph’s time that was forested,” said Tom McCoy, who serves as historic site leader with his wife, Lani. “I can picture in my mind’s eye Joseph walking up [the hill] thinking, ‘What am I going to learn today?’ There is a special spirit here. To be here where [sacred events] happened makes a difference. The Church is making an effort to bring that to more people in the world that can’t see it through virtual tours, so that they can see and feel.”

“It’s a peaceful and a contemplative area where we can feel the Spirit and know that wonderful things came from this very hill,” added Lani. “I hope visitors will take the time to immerse themselves in the experiences here and be still.”

The visitors’ center, built in 2002, was recently renovated. The interior features new interactive exhibits, a film, and artwork, all sharing stories and messages about the site. The experience on the hill is self-guided, allowing visitors to move through the site at their own pace. The visitors’ center also features three new statues of a scene in the Book of Mormon in which the resurrected Jesus Christ visited His people in the Americas.

Benedicte Dansie, a curator of the site, emphasized that Jesus Christ is the central focus of everything at the Hill Cumorah.

“It’s the story of Joseph Smith [and] how he retrieved the golden plates from the site. But the golden plates become the Book of Mormon, and they testify of Jesus Christ,” Dansie said. “That’s really what we wanted to connect through the whole site was that thread of the history from the time that Moroni buries the plates, when Joseph Smith retrieves it, and then the stories that we know today that are from the Book of Mormon.”

Elder Bednar said the refurbished site is ready to help many more people understand and appreciate the truths God gave the world through Joseph Smith.

“In this sacred place, visitors will learn the Lord preserved and brought forth the Book of Mormon to give light and knowledge to God’s children throughout the world,” he said. “In this sacred place, visitors will learn the Lord restored His gospel and kingdom to the earth, beginning with the ministry of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

“And in this sacred place,” Elder Bednar concluded, “visitors will learn that The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ testifies of the resurrected Redeemer and invites all people to come unto Him.”

Since Thursday, September 18, 2025, a similar experience of the exhibits available at the Visitors’ Center titled Glad Tidings from Cumorah can be experienced online.

Prior to the rededication of the Hill Cumorah historic site, Elder Bednar and Elder McKay held other meetings with members and missionaries on Friday through Sunday, September 19-21, 2025.

Learn more in this Church News article Latter-day Saints, historic sites missionaries inspired, uplifted by 3 devotionals with Elder Bednar and Church leaders