This last summer my youngest daughter moved to Eagle Mountain Utah. They are now homeowners, and my four grandkids have a yard and huge basement to play in. For those of you not from Utah, Eagle Mountain is about half way between Salt Lake City and Provo, West of Saratoga Springs. It is also uniquely Mormon, and I use Mormon vice LDS for a reason.
From my daughter’s back porch, I can see 10 LDS church steeples. Thats right, ten. That would be three stakes, or about 15,000 members. From that porch, I can see more LDS homes than in the whole state of Maine. In the photo below the title is my daughter’s entire ward. There are 155 homes in her subdivision, and all but five are LDS. So 150 homes make one ward.
I can also see homes that belong to the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), one of the more famous polygamous groups in Utah that helps define the rich Mormon heritage in the area. One of the newest LDS Chapels in the area is build right next to several AUB “compounds”. These houses look like big homes from a distance, but as you get closer you see they look more like an apartment building, with multiple doors.
On the right is the LDS chapel, and the left one of the AUB buildings. They share a fence line!
Here is a new home almost complete. As you can see it almost looks like an apartment! The AUB homes are marked with lots of cars (up to 10), lots of kids toys in the yard, and a large playground out back, some reviling those at parks. I’m sure my grandson goes to school with some of their kids. It is an interesting combination of the old and the new living in apparent harmony.
Eagle Mountain is even more Mormon than the Provo/Orem area. I wonder how that affects the culture dynamics of church there. The bishop in my daughter’s ward asked that all Home Teachers be assigned families they can see from their front porch. They announced in Priesthood Meeting last summer that the community pool was closed for a few days due to green stuff growing in it.
Is this good for the members that live here, or does it give them a false perception of what the “church” is? How does this affect future general authorities that grow up in this environment?
Wheat & Tares 
I’m genuinely curious what the home teaching numbers are like. It’s an hour round trip for me to see my families (eastern US) and that’s definitely been an obstacle. That said, my own home teacher lives 10 minutes away and I’ve never been visited.
Another thought: going inactive or “taking a break” in this ward could be rather unpleasant if people don’t give you space.
I enjoyed living in Provo when I was there for BYU, but living in a new tract in such a demographic would be far too much even for me. “The bishop in my daughter’s ward asked that all Home Teachers be assigned families they can see from their front porch. ” Somehow very distributing to me. There’s unity and brotherhood and then there’s creepy.
We have a sister missionary in our ward from Eagle Mountain. I asked her how does feel about going from this heavy Mormon area to our remote mission where the church is hardly anything and she said she loves it! something different and helps keep things in prospective.
I wonder how the AUB families afford these homes…? Does the husband and his multiple wives all work? Who raises all the kids they are producing?
I don’t find myself too bothered by it. I could see the neighborhood going two ways depending on how the relationship between the two groups is defined by the stake leadership. Either the non-lds kids are shunned by LDS families and the groups are entirely separate (my sister’s neighborhood in Utah has this problem of LDS families being less than welcoming to nonmembers and not allowing the non-LDS kids to play with anyone non-LDS). Or they are embraced with open arms by LDS members, as a way to be good missionaries and not rock the boat.
Now what would be really interesting is an LDS ward in Utah that backups up to an entire neighborhood of LGBTQ families. How would the LDS families react then?
Vs or Vice?
“Does the husband and his multiple wives all work? Who raises all the kids they are producing?”
If you watch “Sister Wives” (about the AUB.) When Kody had 3 wives, 2 wives worked, and the 3rd was the stay-at-home mom for everyone. I’m not sure if wife #4 works because I haven’t watched the show since it came off Netflix. My emails to re-instate the show have gone ignored, and I refuse to pay to watch commercials at Hulu.
“Is this good for the members that live here, or does it give them a false perception of what the “church” is?”
Yes, it perpetuates false perceptions. When you grow up in a dense, close-knit, insulated Mormon community, all the while knowing that polygamous families live right around the corner in their own closed-off communities, it’s going to give you a messed up view of how the world works. This only encourages Mormon tribalism/exceptionalism/elitism, and also spurs paranoia about “polygamists in our midst”. Mormon-heritage groups currently practicing polygamy are of little to no concern to LDS members outside of the Jello Belt.
“How does this affect future general authorities that grow up in this environment?”
For reasons mentioned above, I hope future generations of general authorities are more frequently sourced from outside Utah.
My granddaughter visited her aunt in S.t. George. As they were driving around, they passed a church belonging to another denomination with a cross on the front, and my granddaughter asked my daughter if that was the church they went to. No idea other churches exist–out of the mouths of babes!
I should add, she lives in Eagle Mtn!
“some reviling those at parks”
rivaling ?
Sounds very claustrophobic … Seeing your HT families from the front porch?
I’m 16 and I’ve lived in Eagle Mountain my whole life. I assure you that the AUB is a very very small portion of our community. Especially because they are on the outskirts of the town and are mainly in one local subdivision of many in Eagle Mountain i.e. the Ranches, City Center, Silver Lake, etc. All proclaimed AUB members have been excommunicated from the LDS Church because we are no longer polygamist and haven’t been for a long time. It hasn’t changed my opinion of the church or shrouded my understanding of how it’s run. If anything, it’s deepens my understanding. Also, for those asking, hometeaching is infact easy because those I home teach (and our ward boundaries) are within a 5 minute walk. Same goes for fast offerings.
Nunya,
I think your comment confirms to those not in Eagle Mountain that you live in a bubble.
On the other hand, Mormons that grow up in places like Eagle Mountain might have a better sense of being able to peacefully coexist with polygamist groups, as Nunya suggests. Sort of a mutual relationship of “you stay on your side of the street, I’ll stay on mine”. By contrast, I grew up in California, and while I knew about historical Mormon polygamy, I had no idea Mormon-heritage polygamy was still going on until I was maybe 18, when I saw a very disturbing piece on Dateline about Warren Jeffs and the FLDS. And then Big Love came out a few years later. Mormon polygamy, both past and present, is repulsive to me, and I can’t imagine what it’s like to live down the street from an active polygamous group compound. And I hope I never have to find out.
My brother lives in a similar newer-built community in the southwestern part of Salt Lake County. I asked if he experienced any culture shock moving there (having lived in other states for the previous decade) and he surprised me by saying it wasn’t too bad. Most people who live in his ward are also recent transplants (many from other states), so it wasn’t quite the same as moving to a more established Utah ward. You just had the perks of lots of neighborhood kids and small (geographically) wards. Just another point to consider.
I’m intrigued by the concept that Eagle Mtn does not represent what the church “is.” Because for those who live there the church certainly “is” just what you describe and they experience. Does Manhattan or Rome or Santiago or Fruit Heights represent what the church really “is?” Of course it does because the church is all of those local experiences making up the whole. People frequently call out dissenters on social issues discussed on LDS blogs by railing at them for not allowing them their own “lived experience” of oppression or racism or patriarchy. How is your question about the lived experience of residents of Eagle Mountain any different? They live their version of the LDS church every day of their lives and who is Bishop Bill to insinuate that it isn’t genuine?
It’s not a compound, it’s a regular neighborhood, some of the homes are bigger but you’d have a hard time telling they are polygamous if you were driving by. Compound makes it sound like prison or fenced in areas, they are essentially normal other then how they sleep at night, kind of like the LGBTQ… They are still people. Perhaps branding them as outsiders and alienating them isn’t a good idea, what has that ever accomplished in the history of minorities in America. Let’s live up to our LDS name and have open arms to all even if they don’t align with our own views. I’ve known some of these people and it would surprise you at the quality of character they carry but like every group and religion they do have their wierdos. Haha. Anyway that’s my input.
Having lived in 15 states prior to living in Utah, I am desperate to ensure that my kids realize that this place is not “normal.” I seek out and encourage friendships with non-LDS kids in the hope that my own will be able to live normal, accepting lives in other states as they age. Having encountered many “first time living in the ‘mission field’ people around the country, you can’t convince me this is unnecessary (I get baffled questions about my efforts regularly).
I’m also intrigued about the racial demographics of the ward. Are there any ethnic minorities or people from other countries? If you’re a family of color, even if you’re members and fully active and hold ward leadership positions, is there still awkwardness when your kids want to date date the white kids down the street?
I’m a person of color who grew up in SLC and converted at age 17, and hoo boy it was mighty difficult. Not saying everyone in Utah is a racist by any stretch, but I definitely encountered white folks who were all smiles about my discovery of the gospel right up until their daughter and I tried to be a couple.
I was born and raised in SLC UT. Once I graduated from college (in UT) and got married I left UT and have lived on the east and west coasts for the past 30 years. On the one hand, I can imagine many positive aspects of living in such a community where so much is shared in common. But on the other hand, there are many missed opportunities to living in such a community. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to live away from the UT Mormon “bubble.” Sometimes when visiting extended family in UT, I have this sense I’m visiting Stepford (but realize at the same time I appear to fit right in). In UT it seems the insularity can create unhealthy “keeping up with the Jones’ behavior. (Sometimes this phenomena leads to the church having to issue new policies–like those dealing with missionary farewells etc).
I do think our growth as individuals and communities can become “stunted” in some ways when we become so insular. I don’t ever think about categorizing or judging people as “member” or “non-member,” and I don’t need to view them as “projects.” Some of the most Christ-like people I know aren’t even Christians.
“I’m intrigued by the concept that Eagle Mtn does not represent what the church “is.” Because for those who live there the church certainly “is” just what you describe and they experience. Does Manhattan or Rome or Santiago or Fruit Heights represent what the church really “is?” Of course it does because the church is all of those local experiences making up the whole. People frequently call out dissenters on social issues discussed on LDS blogs by railing at them for not allowing them their own “lived experience” of oppression or racism or patriarchy. How is your question about the lived experience of residents of Eagle Mountain any different? They live their version of the LDS church every day of their lives and who is Bishop Bill to insinuate that it isn’t genuine?”
I don’t know what Bishop Bill would say, but I would say that all of those things can be Mormonism, can be what the church is–as long as no one gets the idea that the church in the one location is all it is. It has been interesting to me to see how members in small branches in countries still relatively new to the church see the church versus how members from those same branches who have traveled to places where there are larger wards see the church. They tend to have a more expansive vision of what their own branch could be like.
I had a friend once, who grew up in Bountiful and never had in non-Mormon friends. He had some weird ideas about what other people were like.
I also remember when the directive banning missionary farewells came down. I didn’t really understand why (and it didn’t help that the relatives of a general authority in my non-Utah ward had one anyway). But having spent some time in Utah, I do understand now, since a missionary farewell may result in half the ward leaving church after sacrament meeting.
If someone only knows the Eagle Mt. locality version of church and cannot imagine that the church works differently elsewhere, they may tend to assume that what works in their lived experience works in all of the others.
I’m fine with people living the Eagle Mt. version, but I’d rather not do it myself, I think.