Brigham City temple: Peach Days, almost

While we were in Utah, we went up to Brigham City, sixty miles north of Salt Lake, to see the new temple while it was open for visitors.  It will be dedicated and closed to the public the end of this month.  Hubby grew up in Brigham City, and my father's family was one of the original founding families, so this was important to us.  The site is across Main Street from the old Box Elder tabernacle which my great-great grandfather helped build.  We took our grandchildren over there before they left for home, and they oohed at the carved wood rails and balcony, and took a walk up and around the upstairs perimeter.

The site used to be the Central School, the elementary school where Hubby went.  It was torn down a few years ago, and we were surprised and excited when a temple was announced for Brigham City, an area we wouldn't have thought large enough to warrant a temple of its own--then to find out where it would be built was another surprise.  Brigham City has about 25,000 people, and this is right in the center of town.

(In this picture, we are at the back side, where the parking level enters.  Around the other side, it's all lovely landscaping and goes from the sidewalk to the entry. The sun was so bright, that I couldn't see anything at all in my camera display screen, and just hoped.  It does cut the top of the spire off, but it's a better shot than the other one I tried.)

Here is a short presentation  with pictures.  There are other links to look at.

 We had a time scheduled which turned out to be busy, it looked like the crowds were a little less at the point when we were leaving.  We drove up in three cars from Provo and Salt Lake, met relatives from Layton there, and went together.  We took pictures around the grounds after our tour.

(Hubby's brother, the one you can't mistake, has the camera, so he's not in the shot, otherwise, this is a sister-in-law [married to the cameraman], the brother who is my age at far right, my parents, Eric and kids, the two of us, Roseanne's family on the left, and Jonathan.)

The temple is beautiful, and is far different from the last ones we've seen.  The new small temples were first set out on a single story, you go directly into the first room once your clothes are changed, with a tower and spire.  We saw the ones in Spokane and Columbia River (eastern Washington) and they were elegant and modern in their interior finishings.  Spokane was gilt geometrics as a border near the ceiling on the silvery white wallpaper, Columbia River was warmer tones. We visited the Vancouver, B.C. temple two years ago, and it was also small, but placed the same layout on two floors, separating the entry and changing rooms from the ordinance rooms upstairs, and adding a chapel.  Its stained glass was evocative of the forest it sits in, lots of thin vertical light and milk glass, but with quiet inclusions of green.

This one is laid out on the same plan, but enlarged. There are three stories.  The furnishings are less stylized and sleek, and have more of a sensibility of the pioneer heritage of the area.  This is orchard country, because the area sits on a geothermal formation which moderates the temperature of the ground through the snowy winters.  The temple motif is peach blossoms, and they are found in a border strip in all the carpets.  The hard floors are inlaid with granite and marble, with large blossom designs around the perimeter. There are also blossoms in the smaller stained glass windows and in the exterior stone. I wish there were pictures.  Maybe somewhere there are, there was a television program prepared that I heard about, but didn't see.  I found one shot of a window.  There are construction shots out there, some of them striking.

small window

                                                         
It was beautiful, and Hubby believes it is a Millenial temple, meant to stand until the end of the world, to help do the work that will be required when the Savior comes and all the peoples of the earth, who have died without a knowledge of Jesus Christ, must be saved.  No other way, in his view, to justify it where it is at this time, where the limited population is already served in Ogden (closed now, but it will reopen) and Logan.  Whether or not he's right, I hope we have a chance to attend a session sometime when we visit.