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This might be a little rushed and odd – this post was requested and I don’t have much free time to write it in. As such I really don’t have many sources. Feel free to call me out on anything wrong. I’ll try to either find sources or edit the post with the correct information.

Adam-ondi-Ahman (usually called simply Di-Ahman by the Mormon settlers) is located in Northern Missouri and was a sizable settlement during 1838. As one of the Mormon headquarters during the Mormon War of 1838 it held Mormon militia prepared to defend themselves and to take, by force occasionally, property from the enemy in recompense for property taken from them earlier by mobs of Missourians (the 1838 conflict is a messy affair and while the Mormons were, by far, not the most violent they did participate in fighting, plundering, and property burning of their own; this is the heyday of the Danites, a band of supporters of Joseph Smith whom he used sparingly but they often got out of control in following the prophet’s counsel).

The word had first appeared in a revelation given in 1832 (D&C 78). In this revelation the word was not defined, although the reference is quickly followed by “Michael”, who was identified by Mormons as the name Adam was known by before and after his mortal life. In 1835 another revelation related an event in the early religious history of humanity where Adam blessed his righteous posterity in a valley called Adam-ondi-Ahman.

A site settled in 1838, called Wright’s Ferry, was renamed by God through Joseph as Adam-ondi-Ahman (see D&C 116); Joseph prophesied that in a future day Adam shall come and visit his people and in this place the Ancient of Days, a title variously interpreted by Mormons as either Adam or God (as for Adam-God, nope, not going there!), will sit. Another revelation a few months later castigated the Saints for covetousness and poetically referred to Adam-ondi-Ahman as the “place where Adam dwelt”. These are the only canonical references.

The Early Saints felt that Wright’s Ferry/Spring Hill/Adam-ondi-Ahman/Cravensville (all of the names by which the area has been called) was either the site of the Garden of Eden mentioned in Genesis itself, or it is the location of a place near Eden where the human race began to grow. Spring Hill was also identified as a Nephite fortification. A temple was supposed to have been built here, but due to the Mormon War of 1838, the plans for the temple were indefinitely abandoned and have not yet been taken up again (it has been suggested, however, that no temple site was ever dedicated, but rather a public square for a new settlement was instead dedicated and this dedication transformed over time into a temple dedication – I will look into this more fully).

Since Adam-ondi-Ahman is identified so closely with Adam it has become a source of curiosity to many people both within and outside the faith. There are, however, a few possibilities when we examine the authoritative evidence as to why the site was named:

1. Adam-ondi-Ahman is the site outside Eden where humanity spread over a Pangaea-like world continent that was flooded in a global flood and was later broken up during the days of Peleg leaving humanity in the new Old World.
2. Adam-ondi-Ahman is the site outside Eden where humanity spread over North America until a limited or global flood washed Noah out to sea where he landed in the Old World (kinda like a reverse Nephi).
3. Adam-ondi-Ahman is a name applied to places where Adam blesses his people and is not tied to any particular location on the earth (like the word Zion which can refer to both specific places and also to the location of the Lord’s people wherever they are). There may be multiple Adam-ondi-Ahmans, at least one in the Old World where Adam blessed his people before he died and one in the New World where Adam will bless his people again in a future day.
4. Adam-ondi-Ahman was named as an attempt at Old-Testamentizing the world view of the early Latter Day Saints: to make them feel as though they were directly taking part in the religious drama of the history of the world. In this view there really is nothing in the past to distinguish the area at all, but the arrival of God’s people gave the land new status and God gave it a new name and promise to reflect that.

My personal view is #4, but there may be better reasons to pick a different view. I view the creation story as a ritualized myth (although I should state categorically that I believe in Eve and Adam as real historical people): the landscape described in Genesis is an idealized view of the entire world known to the ancient Jews. The four main rives of Mesopotamia each flow out of Eden to represent that Eden was the center of the world, the source of humanity, life, and knowledge. As such, I am extremely cautious in approaching the Fall story as real history; I don’t know what happened to Eve and Adam but I know something did. Since early human civilization first arises in Mesopotamia, I suppose Adam and Eve lived near there, although I imagine it was dozens of thousands of years ago, rather than just 6,000 years ago, to give time for their posterity to cover the globe. As such, I view Adam-ondi-Ahman to be so named because it represents exactly what D&C 116 says it represents: an important site in some unknown future date where Adam will visit his people. I view the name as being given to the site in an attempt to involve the American Church in the events of the Old World and the Old Testament and to help them to feel that they are truly related to the events in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Just as these ancient people were God’s people, so too are the Latter Day Saints God’s people as well. The naming of the site as Adam-ondi-Ahman represents God’s involvement with his people both past, present, and future.