SALT LAKE CITY — On a corner in the Liberty Wells Neighborhood, boulders and plaques surround a walking path.
A closer look at the boulders shows many names engraved on the stones. Each name is one of the 117 Utah pioneers and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who camped in that same area in 1847. But now, the ink on those rocks is beginning to fade.
“Even though they only spent one night here, this was the first night,” said Nedra Crow, a longtime Liberty Wells neighbor.
So in the 1990s, Crow and her best friend, Maren Jeppsen, worked with historians and the historical society to put together the list of names and make a park.
“This is our Plymouth Rock,” Jeppsen said. “They said build a park, so we did.”
In 1997, the park was built.
“People came here and laid the rocks,” Crow said. “The children laid the stones in the rivers.”
The park is created to replicate the Utah landscape.
“The boulders here represent the Rocky Mountains, Wasatch front, and the stone rivers represent Parleys Creek as well as Emigration Creek,” Crow said.
Nearly 30 years later, Crow says the park needs some TLC — particularly with the etching of the names.
“Some of them have been obliterated by the weathering process,” Crow said. “Some are engraved, but the ink is gone.”
The Liberty Wells Community Council is looking to raise money to get the names re-inked and engraved.
“We’re looking to raise $8,000 to re-ink some of the names that are starting to fade,” said Margaret Coppin, the chair of the Liberty Wells Council. “There were a handful of names missed the first time around.”
She said it’s about protecting history and public spaces in the community. She said the council will match about half of the cost.
“As our population grows and as the city becomes more dense, these green spaces and open spaces become much more important to protect and value,” she said.
Crow and Jeppson said it’s a park they hope to keep alive for generations.
“This is a community-embedded park, it always has and it always will be,” Crow said.
If you’d like to donate to the project, visit the Liberty Wells Community Council website HERE.
