Utah Heritage Foundation

Parowan is a “can do” community proud to be known as the Mother Town of Southern Utah.  It was settled in 1851, the first Mormon colonial village in the southern part of the Utah territory, and boasts an abundance of historic buildings from the pioneer era, as-well-as a fair share of interesting 20^th century architecture, including a unique Prairie Style Mormon church (left).

Volunteers were out in force early on Saturday, August 6, 2011 to help with the inaugural Yankee Meadow Half Marathon.  Racers were bused to the start at the Yankee Meadow Reservoir.  Besides spectacular mountain and red rock canyon scenery, the race course went past Parowan’s historic cemetery with its beautifully-constructed WPA rock wall, and took runners on a two-mile plus loop past historic buildings in the heart of town before finishing at the Iron County Fairgrounds.



Mayor Donald Landes presented goody bags to the top three runners in each age group that included two books promoting Parowan’s heritage, Images of Parowan’s Past and Heritage Cookbook III, which is illustrated with photos of Parowan’s historic buildings.

The race expo was another stroke of marketing genius, featuring local businesses rather than the usual entourage of oustide running gear vendors.  Parowan is definitely winning the race to promote its economy and its heritage with the inaugural Yankee Meadows Half Marathon. 

A fabulous new brochure has been produced by the Bear River Heritage Area Alliance to take you on a tour of traditional farms, ranches, and historic structures in a seven county area of Northern Utah and Southern Idaho centered on the Cache Valley.  There's also a list of county fairs, roadside vendors, and other local celebrations in the brochure.  Interestingly, they've also included a list of abandoned buildings.  Really I see the buildings on this list as potential opportunities for redevelopment utilizing some fabulous buildings that have a history in the region's agricultural history.

View the tour brochure   here (1.29 Mb) .

Give the gift of literature for the Holidays, or augment your own library for the long winter nights ahead at The King's English Bookshop.

From Friday evening, November 5 at 5:00 p.m. through Sunday afternoon November 7 at 5:00 p.m., shoppers at The King's English can request that 10% of their purchases be donated to Utah Heritage Foundation by depositing the sales receipt in a designated basket at the front counter. The cashier can provide a duplicate receipt for this purpose.

The King's English Bookshop, located at 1511 South 1500 East in Salt Lake, offers a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults, as well as related gifts such as bookmarks, reading glasses, note cards, calendars and journals. Find out more about the independent store's featured books, and its programs and events at www.kingsenglish.com. We are grateful for the bookstore's frequent and generous support of Utah Heritage Foundation.

The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area (MPNHA) isn’t just about Mormon heritage.  Oh, sure, there are all of those New Urbanist Mormon colonial villages based on Joseph Smith’s Plat of Zion, and the Manti Temple (far left), and several Mormon Heritage centers are in the works.  (Historian Jerry Roundy displays concepts for the Escalante Heritage Center, right). 

UHF is helping connect people along Highway 89 with new ideas and cooperative marketing opportunities.  We believe this will result in more engagement by the public and businesses along the route, more visitation, and increased opportunities to preserve the heritage area’s important landmarks and communities.

Ancestor Square returned to its roots, so to speak, when Nicki Pace and her husband Randall Richards (Painted Pony Restaurant) started the Downtown Farmers Market in 2008.  Of course buying local is the keenest sense of rural preservation and “localism,” or a place of meaningful interaction … where neighbors and local merchants share what's happening in their community.  Before Ancestor Square was a gleam in the eye of Nicki’s father, developer and historic preservation commissioner Brooks Pace; before it was the site of her grandfather Andy’s Big Hand Café; this Plat-of-Zion block was a veritable Eden in the redrock desert. 

Prominent pioneer plantsman and publisher Joseph Ellis Johnson (right) moved to St. George in 1865, cultivating trees, vines, and flowers and operating his nursery and seed business on the same block where Utah’s first snowbird, Brigham Young, started wintering in 1871 after acquiring the house begun by James Chesney in 1869 on the lot at the northwest corner.