Date of Award

5-2000

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Committee Chair(s)

Barre Toelken

Committee

Barre Toelken

Committee

Jeannie Thomas

Committee

Randy Williams

Abstract

What is now referred to as St. Anne's Retreat was initially a summer home eight miles up Logan Canyon, east of Logan, Utah. It was built in the 1930s by the Boyd Hatch family from New York, and Mrs. Hortense Odlum. The property was donated in the 1950s to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, and it was used occasionally as a retreat and a vacation place for Sisters of the Holy Cross. Because it was not in continuous use, there was ample opportunity for vandals to visit, even on nights when the sisters were present. This prompted the nuns to get watch dogs to alert them to the presence of intruders. The sisters felt unsafe with the increase of the sometimes intoxicated young trespassers and vandals, and stopped coming to the retreat. In 1992, Mark Epstein, together with some other investors, bought the property with plans of turning it into vacation homes (Herald Journal, October 15, 1997. Pg. 16). What these investors may not have anticipated was the long standing cultural gap between local Mormons and Catholics, and how fear, belief, prejudice, and a generally accepted folk tradition of legend-tripping would interfere with their hopes of vacationing peacefully in the beautiful mountains of Logan Canyon.

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on May 30, 2012.

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