In four places in the Book of Mormon, structures called sanctuaries are listed alongside temples and synagogues (Alma 16:13; 23:2; Hel. 3:9, 14). Their function appears complementary to temples and synagogues. Sanctuaries appear to be places of worship, especially for individual devotion, although the people assembled “themselves together at their sanctuaries to worship God before the altar, watching and praying continually, that they might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction” (Alma 15:17; see also, Alma 21:6). The sanctuaries in the northern lands, built as a result of the substantial immigration of the Nephites and Lamanites starting in 55 B.C., were constructed of timber (Hel. 3:9; see section Cement, below).

There are numerous references to houses in the Book of Mormon record: Lehi left his “house at Jerusalem,” and “departed into the wilderness” (1 Ne. 1:7; 2:4). Alma “conducted his brethren back to the land of Zarahemla; even to his own house” (Alma 27:20). King Benjamin, after speaking to the people in their tents from his tower “dismissed the multitude, and they returned, every one, according to their families, to their own houses” (Mosiah 6:3). Captain Moroni “yielded up the command of his armies into the hands of his son, whose name was Moronihah; and he retired to his own house that he might spend the remainder of his days in peace” (Alma 62:43). There are references to houses near streets, suggesting an organized arrangement of dwellings (Alma 26:29; 32:1). Houses in the northern lands were built of both cement and timber, but the settlers “did suffer whatsoever tree should spring up upon the face of the land that it should grow up, that in time they might have timber to build their houses” (Hel. 3:7, 9). Some of the “people who were in the land northward did dwell in tents” (Hel. 3:9). And tents were permanent dwellings among the Lamanites living along the western seashore of the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi (Alma 22:28; see also, Enos 1:20 and section on Tents, above). To complete our inventory, we note references to buildings in the Book of Mormon account that may have been slighted elsewhere in our analysis: 2 Ne. 5:15; Jarom 1:8; Mosiah 9:8; 11:13; 23:5; 3 Ne. 8:14; and Morm. 1:7. These are general references to buildings, with no helpful descriptions of type, size or construction.

The Nephite fields supported both crops and flocks of animals (Mosiah 9:12, 14). The yield of these “fields” was crucial to the Nephite survival, and they were “greatly afflicted” for the “loss of their flocks and herds, and also for the loss of their fields of grain,” when their fields “were trodden under foot and destroyed by the Lamanites” (Alma 4:2). And “also many of their fields of grain were destroyed, for they were trodden down by the hosts of men” in times of war (Alma 3:2; see also, Mosiah 9:12, 14; 11:16; 20:8; 23:26). Amulek admonished the Zoramites to “cry unto [the Lord] when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks” (Alma 34:20). Mormon observed, however, that when the Lord “doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity” (Hel. 12:2).

As we have noted, Nephi had a garden “which was by the highway which led to the chief market, which was in the city of Zarahemla” (Hel. 7:10). A “multitude … gathered together at the garden of Nephi,” and “judges,” before “the burial of the great chief judge who had been slain,” met “at the garden of Nephi” to hear Nephi’s words (Hel. 9:8, 11). Nephi’s garden appears to have served as a public gathering place.

There was a “chief market, which was in the city of Zarahemla,” and a “highway” led to the market (Hel. 7:10). The existence of a “chief market” implies there were other markets in nearby areas. A market is where vendors convene to sell their goods and people regularly or periodically gather to buy provisions, livestock, and other commodities. A market can be in an open space or a covered building.

Nephi had a “garden gate by which led the highway” to the “chief market, which was in the city of Zarahemla” (Hel. 7:10). A gate can be merely an opening in a city wall for exiting and entering or a barrier fortifying such openings. King Limhi desired “to know the cause whereby” Ammon and his brethren “were so bold as to come near the walls of the city” of Nephi, when he was with his guards “without the gate” (Mosiah 7:10). King Limhi, “having been without the gates of the city with his guard, discovered Ammon and his brethren; and supposing them to be priests of Noah therefore he caused that they should be taken, and bound, and cast into prison” (Mosiah 21:23).

The judgment-seat appears to be a specialized entity associated with the governing of the Nephite people that one could sit upon: Kishkumen was sent forth to “the judgment-seat of Pahoran, and murdered Pahoran as he sat upon the judgment-seat” (Hel. 1:9; see also, Hel. 2:8; 6:19; 9:7).

The descendants of father Jacob, in Biblical times, were not a seafaring people, but primarily farmers and herdsmen. Shipping was almost exclusively a trade of their neighbors, the Phoenicians. Continuing this pattern, the Book of Mormon record mentions only limited shipping. Nephi with the Lord’s instruction built a ship to transport his family to the promised land. But it is not until 55 B.C., some 550 years after their arrival, that there is any mention of shipping: Hagoth, “an exceedingly curious [skillful] man … went forth and built him an exceedingly large ship, on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward” (Alma 63:5). Hagoth “built other ships. And the first ship did also return, and many more people did enter into it; and they also took much provisions, and set out again to the land northward. And it came to pass that they were never heard of more. And we suppose that they were drowned in the depths of the sea. And it came to pass that one other ship also did sail forth; and whither she did go we know not” (Alma 63:8). Other ships were used by the Nephites to “send forth” people, timber and provisions, “by the way of shipping,” to the land northward (Hel. 3:10; see also, Alma 63:10; Hel. 3:14). The Nephite’s seafaring abilities appear to have been fairly modest, not only from the scarcity of shipping information in the record, but also by the stark reality that one of the small number of ships mentioned did not reach its northern destination and was “never heard of more,” and another “did sail forth; and whither she did go we know not.” The Jaredites with the Lord’s instruction constructed two sets of barges (boats) to help transport their families from the “great tower” to the same promised land, but there is no mention of shipping after their arrival (see our topic article, Jared, his Brother and their Friends—A Geographical Analysis of the Book of Ether).