Pioneer History
Utah remembers its pioneers hard — a state holiday, statues in bronze, the handcart companies and the "this is the place" arrival fixed at the center of the story. The grit was real: crossing a continent on foot to reach a valley nobody wanted takes a particular kind of stubbornness. But "pioneer" means "the first," and the word does quiet work — it writes out the Ute and Shoshone who had been here for centuries, and the enslaved Black and Native people who crossed in the same wagon companies. The fuller story is the better one.
US-61
Scenic Byway 124
I-153
I-15 / I-701
US-50 & US-3951
I-801
UT-831
SR-89 / SR-691
US-894
American West Heritage Center
A living history farm spanning 160 acres of Cache Valley
Kanab
Little Hollywood — where hundreds of Western movies were filmed
Manti Temple
A striking pioneer-era temple crowning a hilltop above the Sanpete Valley
Panguitch
A well-preserved pioneer town and gateway to Bryce Canyon