Heritage State Park

 

 

 

 

One of the other things we did while out west is visit the Heritage State Park. This park was built up around the monument pictured above. The monument commemerates the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. It is said that this spot is where Brigham Young looked out of the back of the wagon he was riding in and stated "This is the right place, drive on". The park is now a place to enjoy learning about the lifestyles of those pioneers during the late 1800's. It was a great place to spend and afternoon. We really enjoyed it. The following blog entry is fairly lenthly but that is because we did so many things at the park. I broke the entry into sections based on the activity the boys were participating in. You will actually have to flip back one page of the older posts in order to get all of the activities on this entry.

Brigham Young's Forest Farmhouse

 

 

 

This is one of Brigham Young's houses. It is located at the park and you can go inside a see some of the different rooms and list of activities that were typical of the day.

Inside the Farm House

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple of pictures taken inside the farm house.

First Stop

 

 

 

One of our first stops was the Pine Valley church house. Here the boys got to decorated a small bag that they could use through out the park to put there other treasures in - like the candle they will make.

Pony Ride

 

 

 

 

An activity that was really fun for both boys, was the pony rides. This was a first for both of them - neither had ever been on a horse before. K.J. was a little skeptical at first - after seeing J.D. have a good time he decided to give it a go. As you can see he liked it. There was also a farm petting zoo attached to this part of the park. I didn't get pictures of the boys with the other animals but they both had a good time there too.

Boardwalk

 

Just a darn cute picture of K.J. strolling on the boardwalk with his dad's umbrella.

1800's School House

 

 

 

 

We payed a visit to an early school house while at the park. You can see a replica of a Flag and a map during this time period. J.D. also tried his hand at writing his name using the Deseret Alphabet (an alphabet used by the mormon pioneers during the first few years in the Salt Lake Valley).

Indian Village

 

 

 

 

This is the newest addition to the Heritage Park. The indian village. Currently there is just two tribes represented at this part of the park. They have building/lodging from the Navajo tribe and the Ute tribe. Eventually the village will be expanded to represent all five tribes that lived in Utah. This portion of the park was opened just two weeks before our visit. The boys really liked this part - what boy wouldn't like a teepee or a wigwam?!

Train Ride

 

 

 

Riding the mini-train! What else is there to say?

Candle Dipping

 

 

 

 

Another fun thing the boys were able to do at the Heritage Park was dip candles. Here they are working with the wicks and warm wax to make candles.

Woodworkers Shop

 

 

 

 

At the woodworkers shop the boys got to use actual carving tools and carve out a few wood shavings. K.J. especially enjoyed this. I think this man in the photo is very brave - putting his hands up to help while the small children are hammering - I wonder how many times he has had his hand smashed in the process?!

Stone Carving and Leather Work

 

 

 

The stone carving shop was run by the town sheriff (who would periodically have a gun fight in the street with which ever character was trying to rob the bank). At this shop the boys got to try their hand at leather punching - since carving actual stone wouldn't really work in this setting.