Cove Fort

As we were traveling home from St. George, we stopped at  Cove Fort. It is roughly the half way point to home, the song "I want out of my car seat" needed some rest so we decided to stop and enjoy the historic site as well allow my nerves to rest.
This place is amazing. So, in a nutshell President Brigham Young wanted the Hinckley family(President Hinckley's great grandpa) to make a resting area for the many travelers to have a warm bed and food to eat. It was in the middle of no where. They made the fort and both Indians and travelers used the facility. There was never any crime or thievery.

I hope I get the facts all straight so correct me if I am wrong(It will be the first time and you were able to share it with me;) We had an amazing tour guide. He is on a mission with his wife from Ririe, ID. I want to serve a mission with Corby like this when we are old and grey. I just am astounded with the trials our ancestors had to endure and their life style. I will try my hardest to share as much detail as I can.

This is the entrance. See the massive sized doors they could close for protection. The tour guide showed us the peep hole they would use to see who was wanting in. It was a large square that tapered down to a rectangular slit. So cool. 

This is the mail room. They even had the telegraph machine go off every few seconds. It was all in Morse Code. It would go off with a short message stating a message was coming in so the women who were in the nearby kitchen making food, would hear the warning and someone would be able to get seated to write down the incoming message. Wow, what would these peeps do with the modern conveniences of today.

Kitchen.

I didn't get a picture of it but they had 5# bread pans and the women would make up to 20 loaves a day. They didn't have Bosch Mixers, they made those loaves of bread all from scratch, the original scratch! The boys would gather the wood for the wood burning stoves. These children knew the meaning of work, hard work.

Laundry Room.

Here they would wash the clothes(once again, not the best photographer but just outside the picture is the scrub board) The tour guide explained how resourceful our ancestors were. They would make their clothes and when the fabric was wore out they would tear it into strips and make it into rugs, when the rugs wore out, they would burn the fabric in the fire and turn it into ash where they would make lye for cleaning purposes. Heard the saying, Use it up, Wear it out, make it do or go without. That was their philosophy.

 

Game Table.
They would play different games but dominoes was a favorite.

Bear, Buffalo, and Deer blankets. 

See the rolling pin on the head board? The mattresses are made of straw and the straw would bunch up and you would sink to the bottom(similar to an air mattress that has a hole and it goes half flat during your rest) They would take the rolling pin and roll out the mattress to even it out and allow for a more restful sleep.

This was out back of Cove Fort. I believe this is where the wood was chopped and hauled indoors as well as the animals were stored. They had 20 cows and the girls were in charge of the cows, milking and caring for them. The tour guide said the girls had some strong arms from churning the milk into butter and other items.

Scripture Study Room.
See the books on the table? They offered a Bible and Book of Mormon to all their guests as they would stay the night.

Presidential Suite.
The top hat on the coat tree has a special box that it would be stored in. Above the fireplace is a photo of Joseph Smith. Such a simple but hard life.

So resourceful. See the cradle. When the infant grew out of it they would turn the cradle upside down and the 4 spindly posts would then be legs while the mattress became the cushion for the new found bench.

Here are the clothes the boys would wear.

and the dolls the girls would play with. Bria was dying to cross the forbidden rope and give this little gem a hug.

 The clothes the girls and women wore lying on the bench.
See the doors on each wall? The guests would go from room to room this way rather than use the outside doors to keep the heat in as much as possible. The boys appreciated this as it was their job to keep the wood burning stoves supplied.

Bathroom.
See the toothbrushes on the table.

 

See the mismatched blanket? No one cared on a cold night whether it was perfect or not it did the job just the same as a perfect blanket. The Lord sees us just like this mismatched blanket. He doesn't look at the outside only the inside.

 Bria mesmerized by the stories and fun sites.

This rocking chair is actually authentic! It is one of only three items on display that is authentic and original.

Here we are up on the lookout. It was such a bone chilling cold day and Sierra didn't bring her coat so dear 'ole dad loaned her his. What a great guy that Corby is.

Here we are walking back from our tour. We are all a little frozen and super grateful we don't have to make the sacrifices that those we just learned about had. See Ada in the front? She was so cute. She would skip over the cracks in the sidewalk and it was just so darling!

If only I was the photographer I will become someday I would have caught on camera her so cute skipping. These moments make the "I want out of my car seat" song tolerable!

Wow, hats off to those ancestors before us. I really don't think I could have sacrificed and managed all that these wonderful saints had to endure daily.