Visit Gifford Homestead & Fruita Barn, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

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The Historic Gifford Homestead (Gifford House) is located 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the visitor center. The Gifford's were the last residents of Fruita and as Dewey Gifford sold his home in 1969 to the National Park Service. The Gifford farm lies in the heart of the Fruita valley, a desert oasis described by Wallace Stegner as "...a sudden, intensely green little valley among the cliffs of the Waterpocket Fold, opulent with cherries, peaches, and apples in season, inhabited by a few families who were about equally good Mormons and good frontiersmen and good farmers."¹ The 200 acre Fruita Rural Historical District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Gifford homestead includes a barn, smokehouse, garden, pasture, and rock walls. The former kitchen (a non-historic addition to the original house) has been converted into a Natural History Association sales outlet. Items for sale include reproduction utensils and household tools used by Mormon pioneers in their daily tasks. Also jams, jellies and dried fruit, as well as and homemade ice cream are available. But it's most well know for its fresh locally baked fruit pies! Must get one when at the park.

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