Winter Corral

In 1884, Niels and Maria Poulson purchased a house on 1.68 acres on block 4 facing Center Street from Lycwigus A. Wilson, who had owned it for three years. The solid rock walls of the historic sheepfold just east of the house may have been built by Niels Poulson after the purchase or by an earlier owner. Its east, west, and north walls formed an enclosure that protected ewes and their newborn lambs from wind and snow during late winter lambing, a type of enclosure known in Western America as a winter corral. Though its builder is undocumented, the corral reflected pioneer ingenuity in using available skills and materials. A granddaughter recalled Niels going to the river for rocks to extend the walls behind the main corral and leaving that newer section unroofed, and she remembered cobbled walking areas and a long grape arbor between the house yard and barnyard. Maria Poulson kept sheep there, shearing them, washing and cleaning the wool, and carding and spinning it into yarn to be woven into cloth by a friend in Little Denmark, part of Pleasant Grove west of the cemetery. An expert seamstress, she made the family's clothing from linen she spun and had woven as well as from wool. After Niels and Maria died in 1919 and 1924, the property changed hands many times, but the rock walls remained intact and continued in use as a corral and chicken coop. When the Thornberry Apartments were built, the rocks were dismantled and moved from 287 West Center so the structure could be preserved, and the corral walls were reconstructed on this site. Eugene and Charles Fowles relaid the rock walls in the summer of 1999, and members of the North Fields Stake rebuilt the roof with new materials while keeping the historic look of the old.

Pleasant Grove, Utah · United States