Dixie in Utah



Entering Utah's Dixie National Forest

 While on a recent road trip through Utah I was delighted to discover that some of the most scenic landscapes in the Beehive State are called Dixie.  Early settlers in Utah gave that endearing name to the warm southern part of their state.  

Established in the early 1900's, Dixie National Forest spreads across almost two million acres of southern Utah, stretching for about 170 miles, making it the largest national forest in the state. 

The beautiful Dixie landscape varies from 2,800 feet above sea level near St. George, Utah to 11,322 feet at Blue Bell Knoll on Boulder Mountain. Much of the Forest is actually desert, but there are also millions of acres of green - pine and juniper dominating the mid-elevations with aspen, pine, spruce and fir in the higher reaches of the forest.  The southern rim of the Great Basin, near the Colorado River, provides spectacular vistas of multi-colored cliffs and steep-walled gorges.

My hat is off to the good folks of Utah who, more than a century ago, named one of the most beautiful parts of their state for the place I hold dearest of all - Dixieland.   

Utah's Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest
"A Journey Through Time Scenic Byway", between Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

Robert E. Lee Monument on Ohio's Dixie Highway

This monument on Dixie Highway, Franklin, Ohio, is said to be the only monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee north of the Ohio River.

The huge stone and bronze plaque is on the south side of Franklin at the crest of Cemetery Hill, at the intersection of the Old Dixie Highway and Hamilton-Middletown Road.

The monument honors the Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Army during the War Between the States. A Franklin businessman, Barry Brown, was instrumental in establishing this memorial to General Lee in 1927. Brown's family was from the South and he was proud of the fact that Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, the parents of Abraham Lincoln, were married in a cabin owned by his mother's family.

Barry Brown had deep respect for General Lee, as did many others in the North. Lee was known as a "Gentleman's Gentleman" and did much to heal the wounds left after the Union's invasion of the Confederate States of America during the War for Southern Independence.

The plate on front of the monument has an etching of General Lee on his horse, Traveller. The inscription reads:

Erected and Dedicated by the

United Daughters of the Confederacy

and Friends

In Loving Memory of Robert E. Lee

and to Mark the Route of the

Dixie Highway

"The shaft memorial and highway straight attest his worth -- he cometh to his own."--Littlefield.

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Photo and Article by J. Stephen Conn