I seem to recall someone calling that area "burned over district" - I think from the fact of previous religious awakenings. Have you seen reference to that?
“burned over district” - yeah, references are few outside of Mormonism but it does appear that there was an area in New England that had so many revivals that it cause confusion among the laity (mostly illiterate).
There is at least one book I know of on the topic, but I haven’t gotten a copy yet.
Something that intrigues me is that at least 3 of these groups (LDS, JW, SDA) were founded in NY within about 60 years and 100 miles of each other.I seem to recall someone calling that area "burned over district" - I think from the fact of previous religious awakenings. Have you seen reference to that?
The burned over district came after the excitements of Charles Finney and the "Second Great Awakening". All manner of oddities resulted. I think the "mind science" cults have roots then and there as well.
I've heard some opine that we'll see another burned over district, where we now have the Bible Belt.