During Martin Luther King Jr. Day Weekend, Tyler and I as well as my roommate Melissa traveled to St. George to attend the St George Utah Temple. It was a jam packed weekend with attending the temple, visiting Brigham Young's Winter home, and exploring two National Parks (Zions National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park).
History:
The St George Utah Temple has a long and rich history (especially due to it being the oldest operating temple) . This temple was announced on November 9th, 1871 and the groundbreaking and site dedication was also on the same day by the prophet Brigham Young. It was then dedicated on January 1st, 1877. It was actually dedicated in a series of three private dedications on that day. Wilford Woodruff dedicated the baptistery, Erastus Snow dedicated the main floor and Brigham Young dedicated the sealing rooms. It is interesting to note that this was the only temple finished during the time Brigham Young was president of the church. Other interesting facts is that it has gone through three major renovations. The original design was modeled after the Nauvoo and Kirtland temples that had a large assembly room. This assembly room was then separated into smaller rooms by curtains for endowment rooms. Then in 1937-1938, the temple was remodeled for the first time where the assembly room was taken out and live acting endowment session rooms were put in. This made it so that there could be 3 endowment sessions a day. Then in 1975 the last major renovations took place to make it so the endowment rooms were for film presentations. This made it possible to have 14 endowment sessions a day. There was then a public open house from Oct 15-15, 1975, and it was then rededicated on Nov 11-12th, 1975 by Pres. Spencer. W. Kimball. Now one of the most fascinating facts about this temple is that this was the temple were the founding fathers appeared twice to the prophet Woodruff Wilson asking why their work hadn't been done. This lead to the church doing the ordinance work for all of the American founding fathers and other influential leaders of the past.
Architecture/Decor:
I found the decor and architecture of the building very fitting. The overall theme seemed to be colonial Americana mixed with ancient Greece. Colonial Americana due to American stars and just the over all colonial look. Then the mix of ancient Greece by having Greek pillars in it. I thought it decor for the temple where the founding father's appeared ( I think they would have approved). Some other interesting historical/decor facts, the temple site was originally a spring. To fill in the spring they used volcanic rock that they packed down with a canon. It took a long time but made it so that they temple could be built there.
Helpful things to note when visiting the temple:
Location:
The St George Utah Temple is located in the heart of old downtown St George. Originally when it was built the temple was on the outskirts of town but now it in the middle of the older district of town. The roads around it are extremely wide and over all is an easy temple to find (it towers everything around it). I would recommend going there in an off season of the St George craze (summer) or at least not on a holiday weekend. I say this because the town was a mad house and traffic was stressful. I would even say worse than Provo (yes that bad).
Scheduling and Temple Clothes:
There are temple clothes to rent there and you don't need to worry about scheduling with 14 sessions a day. Each session can hold around 140 people (so you don't need to worry about getting in).
Other random advice:
Don't go to Zions or Bryce Canyon during the winter if you want to go on any trails, because a lot of the trails are closed due to snow or are ,very icy. On the bright side it is less busy and during MLKJ Day Weekend it was free. I would still recommend going during the summer over winter if you want get the most out of these parks.
The source that I used and a great source to learn more is:
St George Utah Temple http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/stgeorge/
