OCR Text |
Show MARCH 17, 1987 L, STAFF PHOTOS BY JIM Old HASKETT Deseret ? 4Q ax ' f s JTUgBT ' Carpenter Cabins like this one were used to give overnight visitors lodging. Fifty cents a night would buy lodgers a place to stay, all the wood they could burn, and hay for two horses. The This Is The Place monument seen in the background welcomes visitors to Old Deseret. Pat Heun demonstrates the man-powere- d wood lathe in the carpenter shop. could live in one house. Each of his two wives has a private residence for her and her children in one of the two end rooms. The middle room functioned as a common room for cooking, sewing, visiting and other activities. By JUDY JENSEN SALT LAKE CITY If youre looking for a fun, exciting way to fill your summer, volunteer to be a tour guide or teacher at Old Deseret. Old Deseret is a historic, recreated pioneer, town by This is the Place Monument which is lo- Volunteers at the park have the pleasure of conducting tours of these historic buildings and demonstrating historic crafts and trades. They wear authentic reproductions of the clothing of the period. The voluntary terms include one period per week May through mid October. cated at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. Every year local residents volunteer their time and talents to the park and according to Bountiful resident Patrice Holbrook, Once you get started youre hooked. Patrice has served as a volunteer since 1980 and is now president of the volunteers organization. She explained that volunteers dont have to have a particular skill when they sign up, just the desire to have a good time and meet people from all over the world. A visit to Old Deseret is like a step back in time. Imagine smelling biscuits baking on an open hearth, watching butter being churned, or seeing a play at the Social Hall. Volunteers Dolores Jacobsen, Pat Heun, and Marion McClellan, demonstrate pioneer crafts to visitors. Here Marion churns butter while Dolores prepares food over the open hearth. Dolores spins wool into yarn (left) as Marion cards wool to prepare it for spinning (right) . 1 These everyday activities of October daily tours are conducted pioneer life come to life each day at Old Deseret living history museum. The town at this time consists of 12 buildings. Most are original structures that were built in the mid-850 s and moved to Pioneer Trail State Park, some are recreations of important buildings of the era. Beginning the first week of May and continuing through mid- 1 through the town. Visitors may get a taste of pioneer life first hand, and according to Patricia Smith, curator of education at the park, a visit to the town puts people back in touch with their heritage and allows them to actually experience what their ancestors experienced, things like just how uncomfortable sleeping on a straw tick could be, she laughed. There are many planned activities throughout the season. The first is on Memorial Day. Visitors are exposed to the same kinds of activities that their pioneer ancestors might have engaged in during the spring over 100 years ago. Planting pumpkins is a big crowd pleaser. According to Patrice those visitors who plant pumpkins in the spring are invited to participate in the harvesting and the pumpkin carving contest in the fall. This year there will be a special Memorial Day Service and the remains of the 32 pioneers that were recently discovered at an excavation site in Salt Lake will be buried in a special cemetery that is being prepared for them. Town carpenter Pat Heun is making coffins for the remains and will soon begin making headstones for the cemetery. Making candles, soap and adobe bricks are just a few of the activities visitors may enjoy. During the July celebrations there will be organized pioneer games for the children. A newly added attraction is the wagon ride that takes visitors on a tour around the town. The in log cabins like that of John diner. This 13x22 foot cabin has a loft which can only be reached from the outside, which would make going to bed on a cold witner night not something to look forward to. Gar- town also sponsors an Old Fashioned Christmas where visitors may enjoy being transported back in time to a pioneer Christmas setting. The Social Hall is an authentic reproduction of the hall that was built in 1852 and served as the center of the citys social and public activities. Today the Social Hall serves as a banquet hall, theater and has also been rented out as a wedding reception center. The various residences give the visitor a glimpse of a good cross section of pioneer lifestyles. The Brigham Young Forest Farmhouse was the farmhouse of the dairy farm that provided butter and cheese for Brigham Youngs families in the Beehive House and Lion House. It is an example of an upper class dwelling. The Milo Andrus House which was also the general store is an example of a middle class dwelling of the period and is characteristic of the frontier merchant home of the The lower-middl- e classes lived French Merinos sheep provide the wool used in demonstrations of spinning and weaving, (upper left) Marion whips up some eggs in the "modern" kitchen in Brigham Youngs Forest Farmhouse, (upper right) Representative of a middle-clas- s home, the Samuel Jewkes home now serves as demonstration headquarters for spinning and weaving, (lower left) The Deseret General Store still sells "horehound drops and other pioneer goodies, (lower right) adobe home of The three-rooCharles C. Rich was brought to the town from Centerville, and is an example of how a plural family m Volunteers are provided with excellent training in teaching crafts and interpretive skills. The park is looking for responsible people who have a keen interest in pioneer history and good verbal skills who are interested in sharing their skills with others. Interested parties may call Patricia Smith, PioneerTrail State Park. Applications will be taken through March 30, 1987. 533-588- 1. |