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Orderville, Utah
About
Orderville sits east of Zion in Kane County's Long Valley, along the East Fork of the Virgin River, a short drive from the park's quieter East Entrance. Founded in 1875, the town is best known for its remarkable history as a United Order community — a Mormon experiment in communal living in which residents pooled wealth, ate at a shared dining hall, and worked collectively. It grew from fewer than a hundred people at its first communal meal in 1875 to over 370 by 1877, making it one of the longest-lived and most successful of Utah's United Order settlements before the arrangement was dissolved in 1890.
Today Orderville is a small, quiet town of a few hundred residents with a genuinely local, unhurried feel, a contrast to the tourist density near the South Entrance. For visitors approaching Zion from Bryce Canyon or Highway 89, it makes a practical, inexpensive stop for gas, food, and a room before continuing on to the East Entrance and the scenic drive through Checkerboard Mesa and the slickrock country beyond.
History: The United Order
Orderville's communal United Order, established in 1875, is remembered as one of the most successful of the cooperative experiments Brigham Young encouraged across Utah in the 1870s, with residents sharing property, labor, and meals for roughly 15 years before the order was discontinued in 1890.
Getting To The East Entrance
Orderville sits along the approach route many East Zion visitors use, a short drive from the junction that leads onto the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. It's a practical, low-cost stop for gas and a night's lodging before the drive through the park's less-crowded eastern side.
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