When Joseph and Emma moved to Pennsylvania in October 1827, they transported a wooden box, which Smith said contained the plates, hidden in a barrel of beans.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=113}}; {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=170}}.</ref><!--

 

--> For a time the couple stayed in the home of Emma's father [[Isaac Hale]]; but when Smith refused to show Hale the plates, Hale banished the concealed objects from his house.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Hale|1834|p=264}}; {{Harvtxt|Knight|1833|p=3}}.</ref><!--

 

--> Afterward, Smith told several of his associates that the plates were hidden in the nearby woods.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Hale|1834|p=264}}; {{Harvtxt|Knight|1833|p=3}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=115}}.</ref><!--

 

--> Emma said that she remembered the plates being on a table in the house, wrapped in a linen tablecloth, which she moved from time to time when it got in the way of her chores.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref name="Harvtxt|Smith|1879">{{Harvtxt|Smith|1879}}.</ref><!--

 

--> According to Smith's mother, the plates were also stored in a trunk on Emma's bureau.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=124}}.</ref><!--

 

--> However, Smith did not require the physical presence of the plates in order to translate them.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Stevenson|1882}}; {{Harvtxt|Hale|1834|pp=264–65}}; {{Harvtxt|Van Horn|1881}}; {{Harvtxt|Whitmer|1875}} ("The plates were not before Joseph while he translated, but seem to have been removed by the custodian angel."). [[Isaac Hale]] said that while Joseph was translating, the plates were "hid in the woods" {{Harv|Hale|1834|p=264}}. [[Joseph Smith, Sr.]] said they were "hid in the mountains" {{Harvtxt|Palmer|2002|pp=2-5}}.</ref>

 

In April 1828, [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|Martin Harris]]' wife, [[Lucy Harris|Lucy]], visited Harmony with her husband and demanded to see the plates. When Smith refused to show them to her, she searched the house, grounds, and woods. According to Smith's mother, during the search Lucy was frightened by a large black snake and thus prevented from digging up the plates.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=115–116}}. Lucy may have caused the "loss" of [[lost 116 pages|the 116 manuscript pages]], which Smith had lent her husband.</ref><!--

 

--> As a result of Martin Harris' loss of the [[lost 116 pages|116 pages]] of manuscript, Smith said that between July and September 1828, the [[angel Moroni]] took back both the plates and the [[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]] as a penalty for his having delivered "the manuscript into the hands of a wicked man."<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=125}} (stating that the angel took back the Urim and Thummim, but referring to the revelation that stated the plates were taken too); {{Harvtxt|Smith|1832|p=5}} (referring only to the plates); {{Harvtxt|Phelps|1833|loc=9:1, p. 22}} (a revelation referring only to the plates and to Smith's "gift" to translate).</ref><!--

 

--> According to Smith's mother, the angel returned the objects to Smith on September 22, 1828, the [[autumn equinox]] and the anniversary of the day he first received them.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=126}}.</ref>

 

In March 1829, Martin Harris visited Harmony and asked to see the plates.  Smith told him that he "would go into the woods where the Book of Plates was, and that after he came back, Harris should follow his tracks in the snow, and find the Book, and examine it for himself."  Harris followed these directions but could not find the plates.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Hale|1834|pp=264–265}}.</ref>

 

In early June 1829, the unwanted attentions of locals around Harmony necessitated Smith's move to the home of [[David Whitmer]] and his parents in [[Fayette, New York]]. Smith said that during this move the plates were transported by the [[angel Moroni]], who put them in the garden of the Whitmer house where Smith could recover them. The translation was completed at the Whitmer home.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=137}}; {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=16}}.</ref>