LAYTON — According to a national exhibit, fences reveal a lot about people and their relationships with others.

The exhibit, "Between Fences," is a National Smithsonian traveling exhibit that explores how people have fenced in their lives and property throughout history.

The thought-provoking exhibit opened at the Heritage Museum of Layton, 437 Wasatch Drive, on Sept. 16. The free museum will host the display until Nov. 2.

The museum's director and curator, Bill Sanders, said the display is designed to show people how they live and remind them about how they look at and treat others.

"The exhibit is kind of a look at how we use fences," he said. "We live between fences and sometimes we hardly notice they are even there, but they become pretty important factors in our lives and have been pretty important factors in history."

Sanders said he thinks the exhibit is designed to stimulate discussion. He said that Layton is fortunate to be the first of five cities in Utah to host the Smithsonian exhibit.

"I think this is an opportunity for people who have never had a chance to go to the Smithsonian to see something that the Smithsonian produces," he said. "I think that's one of the greatest benefits (of the exhibit), to bring Washington, D.C., to Layton."

The national exhibit includes five different sections that are displayed on different panels. From documenting the beginnings of fences in America to examining the possibility of fencing in the United States' borders, the exhibit encourages people to think about different barriers both physical and metaphorical.

The first section, "This Land Is My Land," explores the concept of property ownership.

"(It looks at) how we actually came about getting our property and how we regard our property," Sanders said.

"This Land Is My Land" documents the introduction of fences into North America by early colonists. It includes early pictures of Jamestown, Va., and Plymouth, Mass.

"They brought the concept of fencing in your garden, or your crop, so the animals that roamed free didn't get into your garden," Sanders said.

The second section, "Farm and Fence" shows the production and invention of different fence types.

"In the eastern part of the United States, you had plenty of timber and stuff like that, so early fences were made of large rails," Sanders said.

These large-rail fences were called worm fences.

As people traveled across the country, timber wasn't as readily available, so in the early 1850s and 1860s, that sparked the creation of barbed wire.

Sanders said that as fencing moved across the county that also created a conflict between ranchers and farmers. The farmers wanted to fence areas in, but ranchers wanted to leave spaces open.