Reunion to be held at historic Cove Fort
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A popular Church historic site for tourists traveling through central and southern Utah is Cove Fort, located about 190 miles south of Salt Lake City near the junction of I-15 and I-70.
Cove Fort's forerunner was an early Latter-day Saint settlement and way station known as Fort Willden, which consisted of an adobe house and corral, enclosing both within a 150-square-foot stockade of cedar posts.
The Willden fort was built in 1860 by Charles William and Eleanor Turner Willden, English converts who came to Utah with their six children in 1849. Brigham Young called Charles, an iron worker, to the Cedar City iron mission in the 1850s. After the iron works closed, Charles settled at Cove Creek in southern Utah, between Fillmore and Beaver.
After a few years the small fort began attracting travelers who found it a convenient place to rest where they could partake of the hospitality of the Willdens. Visitors included mail riders, stage drivers and passengers, telegraph operators and Church dignitaries, among whom were Brigham Young, John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow and Ezra T. Benson.
In 1867 Brigham Young called Ira Nathaniel Hinckley, President Gordon B. Hinckley's grandfather, to supervise the building of a larger fort at the site, which became Cove Fort.
Plans are under way for a reunion of Charles and Eleanor Willden's descendants to gather at Cove Fort on Sept. 23. Those who wish to receive information about the reunion may send an e-mail to Susan@willden.org or telephone (801)544-2029.
