Provo and Salt Lake Cemeteries

For a unique and interesting excursion, visiting the local cemetery can be an as good as time travel. With a little bit of research and some imagination, a trip to Provo Cemetery or Salt Lake Cemetery can make for a fun experience. Have each person choose someone to learn about and then take turns teaching each other about that individual as you search for the grave markers. When you find who your looking for, be sure to read epitaphs and note monuments as you move along.

History can be transformed to real life as you experience these wonderful sanctuaries. And please note, they are sanctuaries so please be respectful.

The links below include lists of prominent people and where they are buried in the cemeteries throughout Utah, specifically Provo and Salt Lake. There are also internet databases in case you want to look up a family name, ancestor, etc.

http://www.provo.org/parks.cemet_main.html

http://history.utah.gov/apps/burials/execute/searchburials

A few prominent figures buried in the Provo Cemetery are Philo Farnsworth (inventor of television); Reed Smoot (LDS Apostle and US Senator); Jesse Knight (wealthy entrepreneur of Utah Valley); Dan Jones (LDS missionary and riverboat captain). A more extensive list of prominent figures and map where they are located within the Provo Cemetery can be found at this link: Provo Cemetery Map

The Salt Lake City Cemetery is the largest and oldest cemetery in Utah. A number of prominent members of the LDS Church, including ten former Presidents of the Church, and also the self-proclaimed bodyguard of the Joseph Smith, Orin Porter Rockwell, are buried in the Salt Lake Cemetery.

Hours of Operations are found on the Salt Lake City’s website, as well as a link to an interesting article discussing people buried in Utah cemeteries that cannot be missed. The article notes findagrave.com as a great resource for locating graves of famous people. A good source for learning more information about prominent people in Utah history.