Red Cliffs Recreation Area is immensely popular for its easy access to water, and spectacular landscape. Once upon a time, in 1859, water was also one of the primary reasons Moses Harris founded Harrisburg in this small valley, now know as the Red Cliffs Recreation Area, within the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.

In 1862 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “called” the Adams family, among others, to settle in Harrisburg. Quail and Leeds Creek, through a system of ditches, delivered enough water to sustain them until Leeds Creek was diverted to the new settlement of Leeds, further up the road. Water became scarce and the population of Harrisburg began to dwindle. Church meetings ended by 1891, but the Adams family remained until 1892, when Orson Adams moved to Leeds following the death of his wife.

The Orson B. Adams House is the most intact structure remaining of this small pioneering community as it was the last inhabited. In 2006, the BLM St George Field Office completed a rehabilitation of the structure.

This beautiful sandstone block house, and other stone remnants, have a red cliff backdrop making it one of the most attractive ghost towns around!

There are on-site interpretive signs that help tell the community’s story.