The first stop on the tour was a visit to the cabin of Ira Hinckley and his family. Grandfather of Gordon B. Hinckley — recent president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Hinckley supervised the construction of the fort under the direction of then-LDS church President Brigham Young. Seated inside the cabin, we watched a 15-minute film about the history and construction of Cove Fort. After that, your tour guide — volunteer missionaries from the LDS Church — takes you across the street and your journey through time begins.

The fort itself is amazing, built completely by hand. There are 12 rooms in all and each has been restored to its original setting. Your guide takes you into each individual room, pointing out minute details and interesting things to look for. We learned that there were different purposes for each of the rooms and each provided a valuable service. Most of the artifacts in each room are original pieces and set up to be an accurate replica of the original time period. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable of the history of the fort and its purpose, and we learned about what happened in each room as well as some entertaining tidbits along the way.

At the end of the fort tour, we were taught a pioneer game called "buzzsaw" — which featured a button on a looped string. Our guide gave our oldest daughter one to take with her and play with her family. We picked up a couple of brochures and then we were set free to explore on our own.

We went up the stairs — 20 of them to be exact — and took our turn as lookouts on top of the massive walls of the fort. The view was amazing, you could see for miles in every direction.

We had a really enjoyable time and even our kids seemed to be interested in all of the stories and seeing how things used to be so long ago. In fact, it wasn't until our tour was over and we had finished exploring that we remembered how badly we had needed to stop there in the first place. I would definitely recommend taking the time to stop the next time you are in the area. It is a nice break from traveling and a refreshing reminder of how things used to be.

If You Go:
Cove Fort is located 24 miles north of Beaver, one mile north of Exit 1 off I-70 and two miles south of Exit 135 off I-15. There is food and lodging located in Fillmore and Beaver, about 25 miles north or south of Cove Fort.

For more on Cove Fort, click here .