Cultural Landscape Assessment, Fruita Rural Historic District, Capitol Reef National Park

Gilbert, Cathy; McCraney, Kathy

This Cultural Landscape Assessment documents the significant resources and character-defining features of the cultural landscape of Fruita, located in Capitol Reef National Park. The report includes relevant photographs, maps, and inventory information. Much of the basic data was compiled from existing documents and reports. Research was supplemented with three days of field work focusing specifically on the landscape of Fruita. While the findings in this report are preliminary, they are based on a systematic process of evaluation which reflect current National Park Service guidelines and philosophies regarding the identification, evaluation, and management of cultural landscapes service-wide. Should the decision be made to proceed with preparation of a Cultural Landscape Report for Fruita, this assessment (in effect, a Determination of Eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places) will provide much of the content for that report as well as the basis for development of appropriate guidelines for the management and treatment of the significant landscape resources. This report does not document the ethnographic resources of Fruita. However, the findings did indicate the potential for ethnographic value associated with the landscape. This report is based on methodologies and criteria described in the National Register Bulletin 30, where the emphasis is on evaluating the landscape as a system rather than as a series of isolated features. This perspective is fundamental to understanding the landscape on several scales of significance and in assessing the type and degree of change that can occur before integrity is lost. In any cultural landscape some characteristics will carry greater weight and value than others. In an agricultural landscape the presence of large-scale historic relationships, patterns of use, and overall organization are among the most significant characteristics. In this regard, individual structures were considered as one of many types of features, patterns, and relationships that contribute to the overall significance and general cohesiveness of the cultural landscape of Fruita, including overall landscape organization, land use, response to natural features, and cultural traditions. While some aspects of the landscape have changed in Fruita, the large-scale patterns and relationships have a strong degree of integrity and contribute to the historic character, feeling, and association of the district as a whole. It is recommended that this significant cultural landscape be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as the “Fruita Rural Historic District.”

Cultural Landscape Assessment, Fruita Rural Historic District, Capitol Reef National Park

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