Edge of the Cedars: A Museum Built on Living Ruins
Near Blanding, Utah
Most museums are built near history. Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding is built on top of it. The complex sits on an actual Ancestral Puebloan village that was inhabited from around eight hundred twenty-five to twelve hundred twenty-five, a community that farmed the mesa for about four centuries. Behind the museum building, you can walk through the partially excavated ruins and descend a wooden ladder into a restored kiva, the subterranean ceremonial chamber at the heart of Puebloan spiritual life.
Inside, the museum holds one of the largest collections of ancient Pueblo pottery in the Four Corners region, with more than eight hundred vessels spanning roughly seven centuries of pottery-making tradition. Bowls, jars, ladles, and ceremonial pieces represent the full arc of a culture that was building complex societies in the canyon country long before most of medieval Europe reached its height. There are also basketry, jewelry, tools, and a macaw feather sash from the period when the people of this mesa traded with cultures far to the south in what is now Mexico.
The name of the park comes from the local term for the Utah juniper trees covering the mesa top, trees that settlers called cedars even though they are not cedars in the botanical sense. The Ancestral Puebloans chose this spot for the same reasons later settlers did: elevation, growing conditions, and access to springs and canyons below. The park offers a rare chance to connect the artifacts on display with the actual ground where they were made and used.
