Mormon Pioneer Heritage FAQ

The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area is a Congressionally designated heritage area and is independent of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Heritage Area · How do I visit? · Native peoples · Church and pioneer history · Are Mormons Christian?

The Heritage Area

What is the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area?

The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area is a Congressionally designated heritage area and is independent of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are a recognized 501(c)(3) organization. We preserve and share the heritage of Mormon pioneers, Native peoples, and the other early settlers of central and southern Utah along Highway 89.

This is the only National Heritage Area named for a specific people: the Mormon Pioneers. Congress recognized the corridor as a significant factor in the expansion of the United States. The story runs across six historic counties. The Heritage Area spans roughly 250 miles from Fairview to the Arizona border, with additional routes along Scenic Byways 12 and 24. The full drivable network, including those loops, is about 400 miles. Read the longer account on About.

The Utah Heritage Highway 89 Alliance is the local coordinating entity and receives annual funding from the National Park Service. The adopted management plan is posted on this site.

Is the Heritage Area part of the Church?

No. We work with towns, counties, tribes, and partners of many faiths. The Church is not our parent organization. That is in our branding and media style guide.

When the Church or its members appear in our stories, we use the full name of the Church on first reference. We do not write “Mormon Church” or “LDS Church.”

Are you changing the name?

No. Congress named the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area, and it stays that name. Changing it would take another act of Congress.

The full statement is on Are we changing our name?

Why is “Mormon” in the legal name? Can we say Mormon pioneers?

Yes. You can say Mormon pioneers when you mean the historical settlers. The Church’s own style guide keeps that historical use, and our legal name follows the same exception.

“Mormon” is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon or when used as an adjective in such historical expressions as “Mormon Trail.”

Do not use “Mormon Church” or “LDS Church” as the name of the Church. Historical “Mormon pioneer” and “Mormon Trail” stay appropriate when telling the story of this corridor. See the Church’s style guide, and our branding guide and name statement.

What is a Mormon heritage site?

Within the Heritage Area, Mormon pioneer heritage sites include historic towns, Main Streets, churches, civic buildings, museums, agricultural landscapes, and other places associated with nineteenth-century settlement. Those sites exist within a broader cultural landscape that also includes Native American and other regional histories. Historic Main Streets, courthouses, the Manti Tabernacle, museums, and the five districts are the usual starting points.

Start with Districts, the Travel Planner, and Visitor Info.

How is the Heritage Area different from the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail and from the Church?

Three different things often get mixed together.

  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a worldwide church. See our branding guide.
  • The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail is the 1,300-mile overland route from Nauvoo, on the Mississippi, across the plains and the Rockies to the Salt Lake Valley. It is a different route from the Highway 89 drive through this Heritage Area.
  • The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area is a living landscape of towns, districts, and scenic byways in central and southern Utah, along Highway 89, All-American Road State Route 12, and Scenic Byway State Route 24.

Nauvoo is the beginning of the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, which stretches 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) from the Mississippi River across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

We help you visit the Utah settlement corridor. The Church’s Pioneer Trail page covers the historic trail. Our About page covers the Heritage Area.

Can you drive the Mormon trail?

It depends which route you mean.

If you mean the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley, you can drive to many sites and sections, but the entire historic route is not one continuous modern road. That answer is on Can you drive the Mormon trail? Official maps are on the National Park Service trail page.

If you mean the Heritage Area in Utah, that corridor is designed to be explored by road. Use the Utah Heritage Highway 89 Travel Planner and our tours and itineraries.

Where is the Heritage Area?

Central and southern Utah, in six historic counties: Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne, Garfield, and Kane. The 250-mile corridor span runs from Fairview to the Arizona border along Utah Heritage Highway 89. The full drivable network, including Highways 12 and 24 and their loops, is about 400 miles. The first settlement in the story we tell is Manti, in 1849.

The five districts are Little Denmark, Sevier Valley, Headwaters, Boulder Loop, and Under the Rim. See all five on Districts.

How do I visit?

Start with Visitor Info and the free Travel Planner. The planner has a map side and a guide side. You can print both as PDFs.

The drive is Utah Heritage Highway 89 through six counties: Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne, Garfield, and Kane. Pick a district and work north or south. Towns, museums, and parks are along that road. All-American Road State Route 12 and Scenic Byway State Route 24 branch from it.

Sample itineraries are on Tours, including the Capitol Reef 7-day tour. For a corridor overview, use the Highway 89 road trip page.

The 1,300-mile Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake is a different route. See Can you drive the Mormon trail?

What is Discovery Road?

Discovery Road is the Heritage Area’s television series about the people, history, and landscapes of the corridor. Host James Nelson, the series creator, travels U.S. Highway 89, All-American Road State Route 12, and Scenic Byway State Route 24. Since 2012 the series has produced more than 50 episodes. It has earned Utah Best of State honors and airs on this site, the Utah Education Network, and community and cable stations in many states.

Start with Stories from Highway 89 or Blackhawk War. The full library is on Discovery Road.

Native peoples of the Heritage Area

Who does the Heritage Area represent?

Mormon pioneers are in our legal name. They are not the only people in the story. The corridor was already home to Native peoples, and other early settlers built towns, schools, and churches here too. We interpret that whole landscape. We do not speak for a tribe.

Who is the Native American ombudsman?

The 2009 MPNHA Management Plan lists Emery Polelonema as Native American Ombudsman. He is a member of the Hopi Nation and a retired planner for the Six County Association of Governments. The same 2009 plan names Elliott Yazzie with the Koosharem Band of Paiutes.

Where can visitors see Native heritage here?

Start with Fremont Indian State Park in southern Sevier County: Fremont rock art and a visitor-center museum, on Interstate 70. The Boulder Loop page points to Anasazi State Park Museum on Scenic Byway 12. Zion Canyon, which this Heritage Area reaches from Under the Rim, is treated as sacred land in the stories we tell there.

Films and Discovery Road episodes

Zion – You’ll Remember Me is a Sacred Landscapes film with Gary Tom, Cherie Call, and Melissa Hinton.

Projects, parks, and memorials

Church and pioneer history

Who were the Mormon pioneers?

They were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who left the Midwest beginning in 1846 and crossed the continent to gather in the Rocky Mountains. Tens of thousands went by ship, wagon, handcart, and later by train.

Beginning in 1846, tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints left homes, friends, and families and endured the rigors of travel by ship, wagon, handcart, and train to gather with fellow Saints in the Rocky Mountains of North America.

About 70,000 of the immigrants on that wagon road were Latter-day Saints. Church histories describe the migration as both a flight from persecution and a religious gathering intended to establish Latter-day Saint communities in the West. From 1856 to 1860, about 3,000 people in ten companies came by handcart.

From Manti, settlers later moved farther south along the Sevier River. The 2009 Management Plan records that Mormon-patterned communities were established there, “usually seven to ten miles apart.”

The Church tells that gathering on its Mormon Trails exhibit and on Remembering Handcart Pioneers in the Sweetwater Valley. On this site, The Mormon Colonization tells the Utah settlement story that followed, and the places you can visit are in our districts. The places those families later built are on Mormon Pioneers.

Why did the Mormon pioneers come to Utah?

They were forced out of Nauvoo. Residents had spent more than five years building that city when, in January 1845, the Illinois legislature revoked the charter. Tensions, political conflict, and violence against Latter-day Saints increased during the Nauvoo period. The governor told them to disperse from Nauvoo or leave the state. Church leaders ultimately organized a large-scale migration west from Illinois.

Others on that overland route were traveling west to settle or to reach the California gold fields. Church histories say those who left Nauvoo were not only seeking land.

The pioneer trail of Latter-day Saints follows a similar route to others crossing North America in search of fertile soil and gold in California. But those who fled Nauvoo in 1846 were not just seeking land. They were religious refugees determined to stay on a covenant path.

Brigham Young’s vanguard company left in April 1847 and reached the Great Salt Lake Valley that July. The Church tells that story on its Pioneer Trail page and the Mormon Trails exhibit.

Are Mormons Christian?

We do not decide who is Christian. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints answers the question this way:

Yes. Mormons, more properly referred to as Latter-day Saints or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, unequivocally affirm themselves to be Christian, or in other words, followers of Jesus Christ.

That is on the Church’s FAQ, Are Mormons Christian? The dedicated article is Are Mormons Christian?

Latter-day Saints identify as Christians. The Church does not accept the post-New Testament creeds as binding statements of faith. They also say their beliefs do not line up one-for-one with evangelicals, Catholics, or other Christians.

When Mormons say they are Christian, they are not suggesting that their beliefs line up perfectly with evangelicals or Catholics or other Christians.

The Church does not accept later creeds such as the Nicene Creed as binding definitions of Christian belief. Church publications describe both areas of overlap with creedal Christianity and substantial doctrinal differences, particularly in teachings about the Godhead:

Whatever the doctrinal differences that exist between the Latter-day Saints and members of other Christian religions, the roles Latter-day Saints ascribe to members of the Godhead largely correspond with the views of others in the Christian world. Latter-day Saints believe that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving, and they pray to Him in the name of Jesus Christ. They acknowledge the Father as the ultimate object of their worship, the Son as Lord and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as the messenger and revealer of the Father and the Son. In short, Latter-day Saints do not accept the post–New Testament creeds yet rely deeply on each member of the Godhead in their daily religious devotion and worship, as did the early Christians.

Those points are from the Church Newsroom and the Gospel Topics essay Are “Mormons” Christian? The dedicated article is Are Mormons creedal Christians?

Writers sometimes ask “Are LDS Christian?” “LDS” is not the Church’s name. The Church asks writers not to use it as a substitute and prefers “Latter-day Saints” for members. The naming rule is in the Church’s style guide.

“Mormon vs Christian” usually refers to questions about how Latter-day Saint beliefs compare with other Christian traditions. For the question of creedal Christianity specifically, see Are Mormons creedal Christians?

Do Mormons believe in Jesus?

Yes. The Church says members believe in Jesus, that salvation comes only through Him, and that He was born of the Virgin Mary, died on the cross, and was resurrected.

Yes. Mormons, more properly referred to as Latter-day Saints or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe in Jesus.

Like all Christians, Latter-day Saints believe in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and believe that salvation comes only through Him.

That is on the Church FAQ, Do Mormons believe in Jesus?

Who do Mormons worship?

They worship God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. They pray to the Father, not to Jesus.

Mormons, more properly referred to as Latter-day Saints or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, worship God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

While Latter-day Saints do worship Jesus Christ as explained here, they do not pray to Him. That is reserved for only God the Father.

That is on the Church FAQ, Who do Mormons worship?

Are Mormons Protestant? Are Mormons Catholic?

No. The Church does not identify as Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant. It describes itself as restored, not reformed.

This is the ‘restored,’ not a ‘reformed,’ church of Jesus Christ.

That line is in the Gospel Topics essay Are “Mormons” Christian?

Why don’t members call themselves Mormons?

“Mormons” is a nickname from the Book of Mormon. Members did not coin it. The Church used it for a time and now asks people to use the full name.

The term “Mormons” is a nickname that comes from a book of scripture unique to our Church called the Book of Mormon. We didn’t come up with the nickname, but many people use it to describe the Church and its members.

In the past, we’ve embraced the term and even used it ourselves, but now we ask people to call the Church by its full name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Latter-day Saints” is a good way to refer to members. Historical “Mormon pioneer” is still fine, which is why that wording stays in our legal name. See Common Questions and the style guide.

Do Latter-day Saints believe in the Bible?

Yes.

Yes! We believe the Bible is the word of God. We regularly study it in our homes and at church, and we try to live by its teachings. We believe the Old Testament and New Testament work together with the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ, to act as a witness of Jesus and give us a more complete understanding of God’s plan.

That answer is on the Church’s Common Questions page.

For the corridor itself, start with About, Districts, the Travel Planner, and Discovery Road.