Church Rock is a solitary column of sandstone in southern Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 along the eastern side of U.S. Route 191

U.S. Route 191

U.S. Route 191 is a spur of U.S. Route 91 that has two branches. The southern branch runs for 1,465 miles from Douglas, Arizona on the Mexican border to the southern part of Yellowstone National Park. The northern branch runs for 440 miles from the northern part of Yellowstone National Park to...

, near the entrance to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab and preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries. The park is divided into four districts:...

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Without a doubt Utah has more grand landscapes and scenic wonders than most states, and its southeastern corner is no exception. With majestic Colorado and Green river canyonlands, this lone roadside oddity near Monticello, called Church Rock, seldom attracts no more than a casual glance as visitors head toward Newspaper Rock and the Needles District.

One of the interesting pages of 1930's history tell about Church Rock, and how the gumdrop shaped rock earned its name. The story is that Marie Ogden's Home of the Truth, an Utopian community, was responsible. With a small band of followers, Ogden's group moved onto a tract of barren land along Utah's Route 211 in 1933. Members, abiding by a strict code of conduct, were expected to work for the common goals of the settlement. Women tended to the domestic chores and men worked the arid farm acreage. Not far from their farm, the group set upon a grand plan to hollow out the entire center of a sandstone remnant (by hand) to build a church. Today, the only evidence of this ambitious plan is the beginnings of a 16 by 24 foot opening chiseled into the rock. A few miles from Church Rock are the remains of Ogden's ghost town. A few buildings and a small cemetery are all that remain of the Home of the Truth community, found on a ridge called Photograph Gap.