Utah is home to dozens of ghost towns, and they’re all full of fascinating history. There’s one ghost town that’s particularly popular, and fall is a great time to visit.
The little town of Grafton was established in 1859, near the town of Virgin, Utah. The first town washed away during a flood in 1862, and the town was relocated one mile upstream along the Virgin River, where some of its buildings still stand today.
Sarah/flickr
With 28 families each cultivating an acre or so, Grafton was a thriving little village for awhile. Townspeople built houses and a school, dug irrigation ditches, and planted orchards. The town was plagued with constant flooding from the Virgin River, and was briefly abandoned during the Black Hawk War.
The Greater Southwestern Exploration Company/flickr
Grafton was a hard place to live in the 18602, and the cemetery is filled with the graves of babies who died, and children who died of illness or accidents. During one epidemic of diphtheria in 1866, six people died; two young girls were killed in an accident later that year.
Jeff Turner/flickr
Grafton was mostly abandoned by 1890, and the LDS Church closed there in 1921. Over the years, the town has been a popular place to film Westerns, including the first Western “talkie” filmed outdoors, and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
The Greater Southwestern Exploration Company/flickr
Have you visited Grafton? We’d love to see your photos and read your stories in the comments!
Sarah/flickr
The Greater Southwestern Exploration Company/flickr
Jeff Turner/flickr
Ready to explore more Utah ghost towns? Take our Southern Utah Ghost Town Road Trip!
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