Ghost Town: Grafton, Utah

The family and I are currently in St. George. I write this as I cower from the heat inside my nicely air conditioned condominium. Perhaps we will visit St. George in January next time.

We have been exploring all the lesser known nooks and crannies of the Zions Park area. With the kids in tow, the idea was to avoid paying fees and also avoid the crowds. One of our stops today was an old ghost town at the entrance to Zions Park called Grafton.

To visit Grafton, take S.R. 9 toward Zions Park. When you get to Rockville, take the only right turn in town. It will take you over a historic one-lane bridge from 1924.

Follow the signs.


Grafton was a Mormon colony founded in 1859. The idea was to grow cotton on the banks of the Virgin River. However, the land available was so small that everyone reverted to subsistence farming just to survive.


The towns folks barely survived year to year on the crops they grew. This picture above is of a church dating back to the 1860's. Upon closer inspection, you can see that this is an adobe building. You can actually see the twigs and hay in the brick.

There are a few homes still left in Ogden that are made this same way!


One of the fascinating places at the site was the cemetary. The cemetary has been restored to a degree and the tombstones preserved. There is a roster at the site that tells the cause of death of those resting there. Diptheria, indian attack, and accidents were the major contributors. I didn't see any "causes related to old age" on the list there.


Its interesting to note that Ogden started out much in this same way that Grafton started. However, it was blessed with more land and more water to keep it going. If we rewind the clock back to 1860, Ogden was just another pioneer town with an agrarian economy. Fortunately, geography handed Ogden a windfall when the railroad came. Grafton has not been so fortunate, geography has instead been a scourge. The town was officially abandoned in 1945.