#49 "Adam-ondi-Ahman"

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Debi and Denise standing on a big rock
at the site "Adam-ondi-Ahman" (1965)

Truly an LDS hymn with a title like that! Elder Bruce R. McConkie said that "Adam-ondi-Ahman" means "the place or land of God where Adam dwelt." I have a funny story about a trip our family took to "Adam-ondi-Ahman". During the summer of 1965, my family visited Jackson County, Missouri and toured the church history site of "Adam-ondi-Ahman". In Elder McConkie's book "Mormon Doctrine", he states: "One of the greatest spiritual gatherings of all the ages took place in the Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman some 5,000 years ago.... At that great gathering Adam offered sacrifices on an altar built for that purpose. A remnant of that very altar remained on the spot down through the ages. On May 19, 1838, Joseph Smith and a number of his associates stood on the remainder of the pile of stones at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri. There the Prophet taught them that Adam again would visit the Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, holding a great council as a prelude to the great and dreadful day of the Lord..."
The missionary couple who served there told us that every spring a local farmer hauls all of his rocks to this area and by the end of the summer all of the rocks are gone. Apparently, visitors to the site take away a rock thinking that it might have been part of an ancient altar that Adam built. The joke is on the visitors! Thanks, Farmer Brown, for making everyone happy--you get a field cleared of rocks and visitors get a stone from "Adam-ondi-Ahman"!
Now, about the hymn... It was included in the first LDS hymnbook in 1835. The tune is unusual, but "catchy". The timing is a little tricky, too. Every time I see the title of this hymn I am reminded of the story of the pile of stones! ☺