Small Town Big History - Bluff Fort
Updated: May 10, 2020
Bluff is a small town in Utah with a big history. Located just under an hour from the famous Monument Valley, we thought we'd check out Bluff Fort Historical site - the top attraction in the town.
With an interest in history and love for the wild west, we have seen our fair share of forts and living history museums so we didn't expect much different from Bluff Fort, however, it much exceeded our expectations. The historic site is free to enter and as we arrived traditionally through the gift shop we were greeted by two extremely friendly staff members in full pioneer get up. One of them eagerly showed us to their cinema room where we watched a short movie on Bluff Fort's history which we had no idea about.
Turns out this small town in Utah has a bit of unique history, Bluff is famed for the 'hole in the rock trail.' The first Anglo community in Southeastern Utah, settled in 1880 by Mormon pioneers. A number of southern Utah families gave up their homes to carry out a "mission call" in 1878, the pioneers expected a 125 mile trek taking them 6 weeks but instead were faced with over 260 miles over 6 months including the 'hole in the rock trail' and in winter conditions.
"Historians consider the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition one of the most extraordinary wagon trips ever undertaken in North America and a fine example of pioneer spirit. Many sections of the trail were almost impassable. To allow wagon passage, the men spent 6 weeks blasting and chiseling a path through a narrow, 1,200 foot drop in the sandstone cliffs known as the Hole-in-the-Rock, which is still visible at present-day Lake Powell (Glen Canyon National Recreation Center). By April 1880, the pioneers were too exhausted to continue to their intended destination 20 miles upriver and chose to settle along a flat area in the river valley. Calling the new location Bluff City, the pioneers began dividing the land, building log cabins, and digging a ditch from the river for crop irrigation." - Bluff Fort Site
After finishing the short film and with a new found appreciation of the history of Bluff we continued into the court yard which was much bigger than we expected. Regrettably we had sold ourselves short with time. With only around 30 minutes until closing time we had to whizz around a few of the exhibits.
The main attraction of the fort is the cabins. These are recreated homes of the original settlers furnished by their descendants! Each cabin is unique and you get a sense of how life would have been, and how it would have looked. Every cabin is also equipped with audio to tell stories about the individual families that used to live there. Other highlights included the Navajo Hogan, Ute Teepee and the Crafts Building. Unfortunately the crafts building was closed at the late time of our arrival but it looked pretty awesome from what we could see through the windows! Even potential to dress up and walk around the fort in traditional pioneer costume which would make for some fantastic photo opportunities!
Packed full of information, not only was Bluff Fort clean, tidy, and well kept, the staff were exceptionally friendly and the whole experience felt personal. It is clear that this historic site means a great deal to its locals and rightly so. Our only regret was that we didn't spend more time there! If you're in the area, or even in the monument valley area it's definitely worth the drive to check out!
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