Pictured above is the former home of John and Ellen Wood. John was a farmer, cattle rancher and blacksmith.
Grafton is a ghost town, just outside of Zion National Park in Washington County, Utah. The town was originally founded in 1859 as a cotton growing project ordered by the president of the Mormon Church at that time, Brigham Young. The location proved a poor choice, not only because of the threat of flooding from the Virgin River, but also because of the heavy silt load in the section of the river where Grafton was located. This caused constant problems with the irrigation system put in place to water the cotton. This lead families of the settlement to move to better locations on the other side of the river, where the modern towns of Springdale and Rockville are located.
Today several well preserved and maintained buildings, as well original orchards and pastures from the settlement remain. The town site is maintained by the Grafton Heritage Partnership Project. The access road to Grafton is not obvious from Hwy 9. One should watch closely as they drive through Rockville for a street called Bridge Rd, which as the name suggests leads to a bridge that crosses the Virgin River. After that signs direct you to the site, as well as the town cemetery.
Official Website: http://graftonheritage.org/
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Further Reading Suggestions:
- Ghost Towns of the Mountain West: Your Guide to the Hidden History and Old West Haunts
- True Tales and Amazing Legends of the Old West: From True West Magazine
- Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West – Hampton Sides
- Men to Match My Mountains: The Opening of the Far West 1840-1900 – Irving Stone