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Allen Park is a beautiful, and whimsical old private neighborhood turned into a lovely public park. It was originally a Bird Sanctuary founded by Dr. George Allen in the 1930’s. As I understand it (and I might have some facts wrong) he had his personal residence here and over time started purchasing historical buildings, often old army barracks, and had them relocated to the property and started renting them out. Due to the small stature of most of the buildings the area gained a rumor that little people, or hobbits lived here and started being referred to as Hobbitville. It was also rumored to be haunted, so the spooky kids used to break in on weekends to explore. The original owner did used to let in visitors every Sunday and put out a Visitors Welcome Sign, but that stopped eventually. A few years back, the property owner died, and eventually all of the historic old buildings fell into such disrepair that Salt Lake had to evict everyone. The area was slated to be sold to developers, when Salt Lake decided it was worth purchasing and preserving.
The first stage of the park being open to the public was October 4th And I have been chomping at the bit to explore it. We thought we would wait a couple weeks for the excitement to die down but when we drove by on Saturday it was a complete madhouse so we went elsewhere. Today the weather was nasty (which was why we went out the day before) and I suddenly had the thought of, hey I changed my plans for weather, I bet others did too! So we braved the cold, and pretty much had the place to ourselves most of the time. Win!
Quick Details:
Length: I forgot to turn my tracker on, but I would wager it is about a mile to explore the full thing.
Trail Type: Out And Back with a spur.
Difficulty: It is completely paved and fairly flat. DR2.
Elevation Gain: Not much.
Restroom: No.
Dogs? They ask that you consider leaving your dog at home to not scare the birds. But they do not ban them outright. Instead they require leashed, and immediate poop pick up. Update: As of 7/20/21 it was decided that dogs are no longer allowed due to numerous incidents with the wildlife.
Other Info: There is no parking. SLC recommends using public transport, or parking at Sugarhouse Park. Currently, you can park on some side roads, but I imagine the residents are going to start to get sick of that real quick.
To Get Here:
Take i80 to 13th East. Head north for approximately 3800 feet. The park will be on the right. Find somewhere to park and head in.
The Trail:
The entrance, and information sign. I am kind of kicking myself for not getting a picture of the Visitors Welcome sign because that was a deliberate throwback to the original park.
Allen Park etiquette,
Basically, Be quiet, walk your bike or lock it at the front, take pictures but don’t touch, consider leaving your dog at home, but if you can’t, leash it, and pick up after it. Leave no trace.
One of the wonderful whimsical things about the park is the original owners love of poetry and his desire to display meaningful quotes throughout the area.
“Too low they build, who build beneath the stars”
One of quite a few ponds and fountains. I am going to have to come back in the spring and see if the city plans to run them.
Interesting little building.
Cute.
Ooh! Peacocks.
Emigration Creek.
Back to the peacocks.
And a
It wasn’t until I got to wondering why a turkey would hang out with a peacock that it dawned on me and I remembered female peafowl are not as impressive as peacocks.
Peacock again.
“All nature is but art” I love that. In fact I found that almost all of the quotes spoke to me. I think me and George would have gotten along had we been in the same time frame.
“A lamp in the darkness”
The main fountain, and I assume the main residence. I assume it is the main residence because it has an information sign. However, I missed that information sign on both ways past it so I don’t know what it said.
“The song of the birds for mirth”
Another little pond.
I think this was the main residence.
The back.
“Underfoot the divine soil, Overhead the sun”
“I hear the wind among the trees playing celestial symphonies”
Some color hanging on amid the snow.
I don’t know what that little dome is.
Another pond.
“Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers”
Nice little gathering area with a fireplace.
“Nature never wears a mean appearance”
Or maybe this is the main residence? I don’t know. But If I had a large tract of land with a creek running through it, I would probably put my house near the creek. However it does not have a sign, so maybe an alternate residence.
“The leaves of life keep falling one by one”
”Flowers preach to us if we will hear”
“Summer or winter day or night the woods are an ever new delight”
This one particularly spoke to both of us. As, if you cant tell from the nature of my blog, we both love the forest any time of year any time of day.
One of the cute little houses.
“Emigration Creek. Two miles upstream, near this canyon creek Brigham Young said This is the place.
Emigration Creek.
A well and a cute duplex with an outdoor fireplace.
The fireplace says Mary Rose. I believe that was the daughters name. Landis wondered why you would need an outdoor fireplace and I reminded him that we often gather around firepits. This really isn’t much different.
More of the old duplexes.
One of a couple information signs. This one talks about the importance of riparian areas for birds that offer water, food, and shelter to help them thrive.
The little neighborhood.
“List to natures teachers”
“Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own”
More duplexes.
This one is tiny.
Looks like this is the end of the line.
Lovely pillar in the middle of a round about.
Another informational plaque. This one talks about Dr. Allen’s love for poetry. His wife, Ruth would find discarded tile from nearby tile stores and bring them home where he would work them into his monuments, Most of the quotes are from romanticism poets including Walt Whitman, John Keats and William Wordsworth.
Little mix of autumn and winter.
“Pour down your warmth great sun”.
“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground”
Heading back. I feel like I would have loved to live in this neighborhood when it was still active.
None of these houses are currently occupied so it feel a little less intrusive to photograph them.
More color.
Back down to the well and another little house.
Emigration creek.
“Tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything.”
“The great winds utter prophesies"
“The night has a thousand eyes”
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”
”They are never alone that are accompanied by living thoughts”
Oh boy. This one is certainly in bad shape.
“Fair laughs the morn and soft the zephyr slows”
I get they want to keep people out of the old crumbling, historic buildings, and protect the original art, but I find the fence to be a little bit bothersome.
Sketchy old bridge to the house.
“The bird of time has but a little way to fly”.
“The song of the birds for mirth”
Neat archway.
The main fountain again. There is a short arm down the south end we decided to check out as well. And, yep. I somehow missed the information sign in front of the main house. Doh!
The open area near the beginning.
Rooster cabin.
“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her”
“A strong bird on pinions free”.
“Beauty is truth, truth is beauty”
“Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when dawn is still dark”
The open area again.
I can’t quite make this one out.
Friends may pass others trespass? Google isn’t helping haha. But that makes the most sense to me.
The fountain again.
Emigration Creek again.
The way the fence curves here makes this photo look like I hopped the fence. I assure you I did not. If I decided to go that far I would have gotten a better shot of the creek. I don’t know why I fell the need to explain this but I did.
Looking towards the entrance.
The peahen again.
The peacocks decided to chill in the little pavilion thingy.
The peacocks and the peahen.
The peahen.
“Every flower enjoys the air it breathes”
Looking back into the park.
I am so glad we came to explore this during the early stages where not much has changed other than the fence to protect the old buildings. And I love that, even though we were a smidge cold, we had it almost entirely to ourselves. It really was a unique neighborhood. I thought it was similar in interestingness as Gilgal Sculpture Garden only, more romanticism and less religion. Anyway, I love that, like Gilgal Garden, this was preserved for the public to enjoy and maybe even learn a little history. I’ve always wanted the chance to explore it. 10 out of 10 squirrels.
As for difficulty, it is completely paved and fairly flat. DR2.
Dogs are not banned, but they are not preferred. Leash required.
