this is the place

How often do you get to walk the same ground that your great-great-great grandfather walked? We happened to do just that over the weekend at Pineview Reservoir for a family reunion. Dad was in charge this year and, ever the sentimental fella that he is, decided it would be best to throw in a little familiar education while we ate our potluck under the pavilion at the lake.

So we learned about Joseph Stallings. He was a convert to the church from Maryland that headed out west and homesteaded 250 acres in a quaint little valley by the reservoir in Utah. Can I say gorgeous? I was about to pack up my own belongings and homestead my own third-of-an-acre-on-a-corner-lot.

We were able to tour the property where he lived and took pictures of the original home that he built and, just as exciting, see the original outhouse that he used (where I’m sure a lot of great ideas were born.) We also got to see the local church that he helped to build, and a few other historical landmarks.

The most exciting thing about the whole trip, though, was hearing Dad tell how he knew about the place in the first place. He told us that a few years ago, while my mother’s family was vacationing in the area, he decided to go for a drive and just see if he couldn’t gather some info about this man. He knew that he had settled in the general area, he just didn’t know where.

He drove around and finally stopped at a house hoping someone might know something that could help him. Dad knocked on the door and an older gentleman answered. Dad asked if he had ever heard of a Joseph Stallings or had any information that could help him on his quest.

Well...

This is the place, he was told. The man just happened to be Joseph Stallings' grandson and Dad just happened to knock on the door of the very house that Joseph Stallings had built.

Of all the houses in the valley, it was the right place. Coincidence? I don’t think so. But, you decide.