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This is the Place Heritage State Park
After a 1,300-mile trek across the rugged plains in 1847, the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley near the mouth of a canyon now called Emigration Canyon.
A wagon train re-enactment arrives at This is the Place Heritage State Park.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News |
Historians say it was on a hilltop near the canyon where Prophet Brigham Young proclaimed to his followers that "this is the place" were the pioneers would settle.
The spot is now home to a tall monument commemorating that event, This is the Place Monument. The memorial is located within the confines of This is the Place Heritage State Park, a 440-acre parcel where the state stages a depiction of that time.
The park provides visitors an opportunity to learn about Utah's history by re-creating the realities of living in pioneer Utah from settlement in 1847 to 1869 when the transcontinental railroad arrived. More than 200 volunteers dress in period costumes and demonstrate skills of the time such as weaving, spinning yarn and candle making.
Nine of the 31 buildings in Old Deseret Village are originals, brought on to the site from different areas of the state, while the rest are replicas of original structures.
New additions to the park are the Anderson home, a Scandinavian home patterned after a home in Ephraim, one of the first brick homes in the state; a replica of the first press used by the Deseret News, donated by the organization; and a barn near the Brigham Young forest farm house.
The park is located at 2601 E. Sunnyside Ave., across from Hogle Zoo in east Salt Lake City.
Admission to the monument and visitors center is free. The visitors center is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call 801-582-1847.
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