Verdure

Monticello began at Verdure, a few miles south. In March 1887 the Blue Mountain Mission — the second wave of Mormon settlement in San Juan, after the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers reached Bluff — made camp here to prepare a permanent town six miles north. That town became Monticello; this camp, first called South Montezuma, was renamed Verdure for the green growth along the creek. When the company moved on in 1888, the Adams and Butt families stayed, and others drifted in to farm and run a store. The oldest settlement in the Blue Mountains outlasted the plan that made it.

What the plaque says

The oldest Mormon settlement in the Blue Mountain Region was first known as South Montezuma. Later the name was changed to Verdure after the lush green growth along the stream bed. Verdure was settled by men of the Blue Mountain Mission March 11, 1887, under the direction of Pres. Francis A. Hammond of the San Juan Stake. He called George A. Adams, Frederick I. Jones, Parley R. Butt and Charles E. Walton to establish a new settlement at North Montezuma, later named Monticello. They first set up camp at Verdure to prepare for a permanent settlement at Monticello, six miles to the north. When company members moved on to Monticello in 1888 the Adams and Butt families remained at Verdure. By 1894 they were joined by the Alvin Decker, Willard Butt, Lingo Christensen, R.P. Hott and Francis Nielson families. Nielson operated a store and a school out of his log home, the first church met in the Decker home, and in 1893 a post office was installed in the Adams home. Verdure was a peaceful frontier village where cattle, farming and cheese-making were the main occupations. Gradually the settlers moved to Monticello.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum — 13 mi
  An Ancestral Puebloan ruin you can climb down into
• Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument — 20 mi
  One of the largest known panels of ancient petroglyphs in the Southwest

More markers nearby

• Blanding Veterans Memorial — 13 mi
• ZCMI Co-Op Building — 13 mi
• Settlement of Blanding — 13 mi
• Chief Posey's War — 19 mi