Park City Museum invites the public to take a guided walk down a mountain town version of Park Avenue.
“Park Avenue is just as historically important as Main Street,” said Diane Knispel, the museum’s education director. “A lot of well-known people in Park City, including Samuel Raddon, who was the editor of The Park Record, lived on that street.”
The Park Avenue Tours are new and add to the museum’s Glenwood Cemetery Tours, and the long-running Main Street Walking Tours.
“We tried it out last year with Park City Museum members, and they enjoyed it,” Knispel said. “So we’re ready to go this year with the public.”
The tours, which can accommodate up to 15 people per group, run from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. on July 3 and 17, Aug. 7 and 21 and Sept. 4 and 18.
The cost is $15 per person, which includes a parking pass at St. Mary’s Old Town Chapel, 121 Park Ave., according to Knispel.
“We do get permissions from St. Mary’s, and we work with them to get passes that will be given to people who sign up for the tours,” she said. “You just have to put the pass on your dashboard before we start the tour.”
Groups will descend Park Avenue while museum docents talk about the area and the historic structures that line the street, Knispel said.
“You will see a lot of ribbons on buildings there, and those ribbons signify historic buildings,” she said.
The discussion will address architecture, Knispel said.
“The architecture of the houses is interesting on this tour because there were certain styles people went to,” she said. “So, we talk about why they did that on these tours.”
In addition to homes, Park Avenue features churches and other businesses, Knispel said.
“While some of the churches are still churches, like St. Mary’s chapel, some churches are now houses,” she said. “So we’ll go well into all of those transitions.”
Park City Museum, which is overseen by the Park City Historical Society, used to lead Park Avenue tours, but the museum decided to revamp them, Knispel said.
“We spent a long time deciding what we could do to make them more engaging,” she said.
The tours will end a half a mile down the street at the plaza located at Park Avenue and Heber Avenue, Knispel said.
“If people want to take the free Main Street Trolley back to the top of Main, where they can get to St. Mary’s, they can, and they can also book up the street themselves,” she said.
Knispel suggests participants bring water and sunscreen and wear comfortable shoes.
“You may also want to wear a hat,” she said. “The tours are rain or shine, but if it gets really stormy, we’ll cancel.”
The Park Avenue Tours are appropriate for ages 10 and older, which differs from the Park City Museum’s Historic Glenwood Cemetery Tours, which are recommended for ages 13 and older.
Those tours start at 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays from June 30 to Sept. 17, and Saturdays July 25, Aug. 22 and Sept. 5. Cemetery tours are also offered 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, June 29, July 6 and 20; Aug. 10 and 24, and Sept. 14.
The cost is $15 per person and groups meet at the cemetery gates, located at 401 Silver King Drive, Knispel said.
“During these tours, we do talk a lot about death,” she said. “We go around to different grave sites and talk about the people who are buried there and what their lives were like. So parents should use their own judgement. If they have a question, they can always call me, and I will tell them what we talk about.”
The information conveyed during these tours stems from museum research and discussions with surviving ancestors, Knispel said.
“Some of these people lived very difficult lives,” she said. “Many of the people interred at the cemetery were miners who got sick with Miners con (consumption) or died in accidents.”
The Glenwood Cemetery was set up by various fraternal orders in town, Knispel said.
“Some of these organizations include Masons, Elks, who are still in town today, Oddfellows and such,” she said. “They offered miners and their families health benefits and insurance, which they didn’t get otherwise from the mine owners at the time.”
In addition to offering insurance, the fraternal organizations gave miners a way to socialize, Knispel said.
“They would all get together with the miners after work, and there were other organizations that the miners’ wives could also join to get to know other people in town,” she said. “That’s why you will see some of these different organizations on the grave markers. And these are beautiful stones.”
The museum also hired crews to maintain the cemetery this season.
“We’re cutting down some trees and we are bringing in some preservationists to look at the gravestones to make sure they are all set,” she said.
Like the Park Avenue Tours, the Glenwood Cemetery Tours can accommodate up to 15 people per group, Knispel said.
“We can also do private tours at the Glenwood,” she said. “People just need to call us, and we do ask for groups of at least 12 or more.”
Like with the Park Avenue Tours, participants should come with water, sunscreen, hats and comfortable walking shoes.
Knispel, who has been with the Park City Museum for a decade, said she has noticed more people in town than in the past.
“Usually the summers have been quieter during the past couple of years, but it looks like things have changed so far,” she said. “So, we thought we should go all out, and we’re hoping for a good summer.”
For information about or to register for Park City Museum’s Park Avenue and Glenwood Cemetery tours, call 435-574-9554, email [email protected] or visit parkcityhistory.org/events.
For information about the Park City Museum, visit parkcityhistory.org.