Some Salt Lake City History

While on our way from Christmas vacation we stopped in Salt Lake City and went down to the Temple Square.  As I've previously posted, it was amazingly beautiful.  It was also amazingly cold.  Like so cold that my fingers and face were frozen even though I had ten layers on.
 
 
When we were done looking at the Temple I wanted to snap a couple shots of the Beehive House which was the home of Brigham Young and his family.  Mr. Young was the leader of the LDS Church, Governor of Utah, and Mormons consider him to be a prophet of the Church.

 
Having recently read The 19th Wife, I wanted to see it for myself.  I don't want to degrade the Mormon religion, but lets just say lots of wives and children lived in the Beehive House.  The basement apparently has a kitchen and dining room that can accommodate 70 people.  I was surprised to see that they were offering tours of the home until 8:30 that evening. 
 
Heck yes, I want to go in and take a tour.  No only was it warm, but what better way to experience some of the history?  Our tour guides were two beautiful young missionary women, one from Florida and the other from Italy.  They carried their book of Mormon with them and did a great job of evangelizing, but were not overbearing in their attempts to convert us.  I was respectful and didn't even ask if I could take pictures inside.  We were asked to be mindful that the religion considers this house sacred ground since prophets lived there and I wanted to respect that.  I appreciated the tour and learned a lot.  The religion isn't what I believe, but Mormons are good people and if they're happy in their beliefs, I have nothing against it.


The Lion House adjacent to the Beehive House was also a residence of Brigham Young's, an overflow home for his growing family as I understand.  Both buildings have been restored and are in great shape considering they were built in the mid-1850s.  The Lion's House now serves as a restaurant.  If I ever go back there I'm going to stop in for a bite.
 
Downtown Salt Lake City was quite a surprise.  Clean and well taken care of with lots of restaurants, brew pubs, bars, convention center, and lite rail system.  I think hosting the Olympics there did a lot of good for the city. 
 
What history have you learned lately?

Comments

Yogi♪♪♪ said…
I find the whole story of Brigham Young and the Mormon church fascinating!
January 8, 2016 at 4:01 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Skywatch Friday: A little close for comfort

Image
We had a fire out here on the eastern plains of Colorado last week.  I kept getting reports on the fire's location on my cell phone while I was at work.  Then a warning popped up that let me know it was time to hit the road and go home to prepare to evacuate the critters. When we initially got home it was still a decent distance away. Within 30 minutes it had come up over the ridge and flames were visible. The winds were gusting 45 to 50 mph.  It was a fast moving fire that burned 5,000 acres in only four hours.  Then the most amazing thing happened--the winds died down and the firefighters got in under control by 8:15 that night.  Thank you, Lord! Have you ever had to stand in your house and wonder what you should take out with you?  There were only two things I could think of...1) my critters and 2) my passport so I could still go to Europe next month.  Irv and I agreed that we need to get things organized so we can just grab a box...
Read more

Skywatch Friday: Upper and Lower Falls

Image
Yesterday I got to visit the recently completed Uncle Tom's Overlook along the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park. This is the first really good look I've ever had at the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. These falls are almost as good as the Lower Falls. After leaving the Upper Falls you go downstream for a mile or so to.... ...Artist's Point which has the very best view of the Lower Falls (in my opinion).  In this location the view is perfect, so perfect that it look like a painting. This is just one of the features of this Park that make it my heart and soul.   Linking with Skywatch Friday
Read more

Skywatch Friday: Wild Horses!

Image
 The Salt River wild horses have been eluding us since we arrived in Arizona several weeks ago so today we went in search of them again. This time we started at the Coon Bluff Recreation Area.  First we went one way down the river, but soon had to turn back because we didn't bring any rock climbing gear. Then we turned around and went the other direction. The water in the river was crystal clear, but no sign of fish or horses. There are times when I really miss my dad especially when I want to know what kind of tree I'm looking at.  This one has something that resembles Spanish moss hanging down.  What is it? This riparian area that surrounds the river has all kinds of wildlife.  Today we saw theses white egrets. This gray heron was also hanging out in the distance. We met a guy carrying all kinds of photographic equipment and he said we needed to go about a quarter of a mile further down the river to find a spot where the horses cross every afternoon around 5:0...
Read more