Verdure, first known as South Montezuma and later renamed for the lush green growth along the stream bed, was the oldest Mormon settlement in the Blue Mountain Region. It was settled on March 11, 1887, by men of the Blue Mountain Mission under the direction of Pres. Francis A. Hammond of the San Juan Stake, who called George A. Adams, Frederick I. Jones, Parley R. Butt, and Charles E. Walton to establish a new settlement at North Montezuma, later named Monticello. They first set up camp at Verdure to prepare for a permanent settlement at Monticello, six miles to the north. When company members moved on to Monticello in 1888, the Adams and Butt families remained at Verdure, and by 1894 they were joined by the Alvin Decker, Willard Butt, Lingo Christensen, R.P. Hott, and Francis Nielson families. Nielson operated a store and a school out of his log home, the first church met in the Decker home, and in 1893 a post office was installed in the Adams home. Verdure was a peaceful frontier village where cattle, farming, and cheese-making were the main occupations, and gradually the settlers moved to Monticello.