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:.:: :.. JAN 29 1995 UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Clipping Service [phone] OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER HouseiD ) Fmm 1E I , corner ofSoulh Temple and Slale SuccI, A green wrought-iron fence skirts Ihe yard - in Young's day there was an 8- or 9-fool cobblestone wall - and green shullcrs fr.lmc the wi ndows. The home gets its moniker from a beehive - Ulah's symbol oflhrift a nd industry roor: sitti ng atop the "Rrothcr Brigham," 3S many of his followers called him. lived in Ihis strnw-colored home from 1854 unt il he died in 1877. Wife Lucy Decker Young remained until her dea lh in 1888. Ihen Ihe home was sold 10 a son. and laler. 10 Ihe LDS Church.· T wo olhl'r churc h preside nts used it as a residence and. after 1918. th e home was tu rned into a dormitory for young women. Adams herself remembers those dorm years: she was a Brigham Young University st udent ~ho boarded during the summers. He r old room on the third floor is now a storage room and off limits to public tours. Back then. she a nd her friends knew this W<lS You ng's home, but, to them. it was "just a place to I k~a ·8: liv.c.- A new lease on life :In 1\)5<) . the Beehive House was put o n the Nat io nal Register of Histo ric Places and. after renovation . tours began in 1961. Aboul 180.000 people visil ·onnually. Adams snys. and 280 vo lunteers help sq uire guests around Ihe 16.000-square-fool mansion. Twen ty-six rooms arc on display. Ii lied wi th contents that either belonged to Young and his family or arc from the period. Some items arc replicas of originals. such as the cI.bornlely pallerned carpeling and red brocalelle drapes in Ihe "Long J 1~1I- reception room. ·Because Young was both governor and church president. he did a 10 1 of entertaini ng in "Long liall.- located upslairs from Ihe main entrance. The piano is ;'l uthe nti c. ca rted in pieces across Ihe plains to Ulah. Culbertson says. History in every nook Visitors see just two noors of the housc. The Ihird floor. a seclion of which was added by Young's son. is closed . 'Tve been up there, but it's like a ladder - it's very. very steep .... says Culbertson as she breezes past Ihe stairs 10 Ihe upper .tory ..Lucy Young used 10 dry grapes Ihere. she adds. and a daughler had a painling studio. Guides lik~ Culbertson poinl oul all sorlS of inleresting facels of Ihe \ ~~~e. There's a dumbwaiter in the \::.I wa y a nd an i~tercom. too. Brigham Young did lormal entertaining In the 'Long Hall' reception room. Some Items are repNOlice the armoires - no built-in closets - and Ihe low knobs' on Ihe doors in Ihe family SIOre. placed so even Ihe liniestloddler could open them. A !itO,,' inside a house? Of course - in order to assure " proper dislribulion of ava ilable goods 10 Ihe large family of Brigham Young. " according 10 a plaque on Ihe wall . Bolts of 1000ycar-oid elolh arc Slacked on Ihe shelves. and you' II find lealher shocs and old-fashioned hal pins. prelly close 10 a fOOl long. "You can'l buy Ihem Ihis lenglh anymore - they're lethal , weapons." says tour guide Annette Dn vis. Father's watchful eye Davis pulls an oil lantern from Ihe shclfa nd ex plains how Young mon itored the co urtship of his daugh lers. T he girls cou ld enlertain male visitors in th e si tting room, bUI Ihe gucsts were allowed 10 stay only unlil Ihe girls' lamps had From kitchens to 'castles' Allhe front enlrance. Culbertson lells visilors aboullhe "Fairy Castle." It's rcally a second·story indoor window thaI overlooks Ihe dc>or and hallway. so Ihe children could peck al arriving guests. The main floor includes Ihe kilchen ("as efficienl as Ihe limes made possible"). famil y dining room (wilh a lable made from Ihe bed of a Conesloga wagon) and Young's bedroom. where his hal and cane reSI on a high bed. Upslairs is a playroom and schoolroom. although Ihe family's school was o riginally loca ted in the Lion Housc. Education was importanllO Young. who had only II da ys of form al schooling himself and was a self-Iaughl man. Davis says. An antique doll and dress are displayed in o ne of the girls' bedrooms and down Ihe hall are three boys' roo ms. "Notice there's no heat in there," Da vis says. burned ou l. "Their jobs were 10 be up and oul and working on Ihe eSlale." "So we kind of laugh when we see Ihis lillie one." she says. picking up an illy billy lanlern - for East meets West sui tors. perhaps. who didn't quite painter and glazier, was born in pass You ng's mu ster. Nowadays. Ihe store also olTers samples of horehound candy. a pioneer trea t made from a dried, prickly looking planl silling in a pilcher on Ihe counler. Good for what ails yo u. horeh ound was. Cured sore Ihroats. coughs and croup. and. when taken cold, was good for "jaundice. aslhma. hysteria: and will expel worms.... says a sign on the wall. STEVE CONUN/Standard-Exarnlner IIcas 01 Originals, such as the elaborately patterned carpeting and red brocatelle drapes. Young. a skilled carpenler. Vermonl. and his New England roots arc reflected in various aspecls of Ihe Beehive House. which was designed byan:hileel Truman O. Angell. The exlerior of Ihe home fealures stalely colonial-style columns and a widow's walk. In coastal New England. Ihe walk was a rooftop perch where women walched for husbands relurning from Ihe sea; al Ihe Beehive House. Ihe spol served to spy wagon train s coming out of the mountains and into the valley, Adams says. Some of Ihe wa lls inside the house were painlcd 10 look like Tennessce marble and Ihe pine wood was embellished 10 resemble Easlern hardwoods. A daughter remembers When the Beehive House was resfored. th e project benefited fro m the recollc:ctions of You ng's daughter Clarissa Young Spencer. who ·kept a journal while growing up in the home. Davis says. Besides recording events, she described so me of the ite ms and furnishings in the house. Clarissa told. fo r instance. in the book " Brigham Young al liome." of Ihick adobe walls " plaslered and then kalsomincd in" pale yellow .... And of large windows with "lovely green shutters" and a big front door of "solid oak with a silver doorknob." Today. lour guides like 10 pass on to Beehive House visitors a message aboullhe importance of fa mily values. Clarissa wrote alTeclionalely of Ihe j oy of growing up in this home on what was then called -Brigham Slreet." "The.only home I ever knew. until six years after my marriage. was Ihe Beehive House."·she said in her 1940 book. " No mailer where I go or where I live. this will always be my real home. for it holds Ihe memories of my falher. mQlher. brolhers. and sislers. and is enshrined in my heart as a place where love and perfecl harmony ) cxisled."