Land of the Book of Mormon

  Lehi’s group landed from the “west sea,” thus they landed on the west side of the Delmarva Peninsula. After Lehi's death, Nephi, and those willing to go with him, fled to a higher elevation a sufficient distance away from his brothers and there built a city called “Nephi.” A distance of 50-60 miles would be sufficient given the population size of his brothers search party and that this was an unknown area. It most likely wouldn’t be much greater distance than this since there were wars among the Nephites and Lamanites in the first generation from landing in the new world.       Near the city of Nephi are the lands of Shemlon and Shilom. These lands could be seen from a tower that Noah had built near the Temple in the city of Nephi. There are multiple references to a hill north of Shilom. Often, hills are given names and the fact that this one is only referred to as “the hill” suggests there are not many hills nearby. This is a mostly flat peninsula, which makes...

There are two references to places of "pure water." The first is Mosiah 18:5 and reads "Now, there was in Mormon a fountain of pure water, and Alma resorted thither, there being near the water a thicket of small trees, where he did hide himself in the daytime from the searches of the king." In verse 8 of the same chapter, Mormon explains this was called the "waters of Mormon." Alma brought believers from the city of Nephi to the waters of Mormon to be baptized. It has been proposed to be a one to three days journey from the city of Nephi (1). On the Delmarva peninsula, various salinity is present in the marshes and streams, but fresh streams flow from the higher elevation. Another example of a land of "pure water" is Helam. Alma and his people from that Waters of Mormon, fled for eight days and came to a land of pure water, which they named Helam (Mosiah 23:4). Eight days with children and animals would be on the order of 80 miles (as a mother of...