Dover Cemetery

Dover has no living residents to visit its dead. West of Fayette, across the Sevier River, a town of fifty homes rose in 1877 on ground that looked better than it was — the soil turned alkaline, floods took the crops, and mosquitoes carried diphtheria through families faster than they could bury their own. By 1900 the living had gone and only the graves stayed. A reservoir later drowned the fields, drought finished the rest, and the houses were hauled off or fell. This little cemetery — forty graves, tended still — is nearly all that Dover left behind.

What the plaque says

Dover Cemetery In 1875, John E. Forsgren, assisted by others from Santaquin, attempted to establish a community after ''The Order of Enoch'' on the west side of Sevier River, but failed in their scheme. Under leadership of William Robinson, in 1877, the area was resettled and called Dover. At its peak there were fifty homes, a store and a community building. River floods ruined crops and swarms of mosquitoes brought diptheria epidemics. The death rate was very high. By 1900, all the town people had left, leaving only the dead behind. Zina Pickett bought the cemetery land and gave the deed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No. 422 South Sanpete County Erected 1982

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Gunnison — 5.5 mi
  Sanpete's southern hub, home to Utah's oldest operating theater
• Sterling — 11 mi
  A highway hamlet and the doorway to Palisade State Park
• Scipio — 11 mi
  A tiny crossroads town where I-15 meets the old highway
• Mayfield — 12 mi
  Gateway to Twelve Mile Canyon and the Skyline Drive high country

More markers nearby

• Warm Creek-Fayette — 2.5 mi
• Gunnison Honor Roll — 5.3 mi
• Gunnison Valley Veterans Memorial — 5.3 mi
• Gunnison Pioneers — 5.3 mi