I have just returned from a peaceful weekend in Kingston, Utah, population 139-ish, and staying pretty much the same, largely, I think, because most of the land is reserved for cows. Here, the lanes are lined with currants and wild asparagus (the competition for that asparagus gets pretty fierce in the spring time, let me tell you), and seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day. Even when they are cloudy, though, it’s still pretty beautiful.
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As you can see from the sign, Kingston was founded in 1877. As you can’t see from the sign, the founder’s name was John King (king’s + town – w = Kingston!). He moved into the area with his five sons and their families to start a United Order, a communal style of living meant to move families away from a materialistic, self-serving society that early residents felt was closing in all around the state.
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The town was then secularized (sort of) and incorporated on September 21, 1926. It is now run out of the town hall featured below, which is about the size of a California casita, next to a post office the size of a shed. Nonetheless, this tiny town hall is just the right size for a swell pancake breakfast on the Fourth of July! They can also muster up a parade to trump the Flying Fish Festival!
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I’m going to be completely honest with you. There isn’t a lot to see in Kingston. You can walk from one end of the town to the next in a maximum of fifteen minutes. There are no hotels, no restaurants, no theaters, and no social circles to speak of, apart from churchgoers and cows. It is a spot on a map, a speck, even. I would probably never have stumbled upon this place if I didn’t already know two really swell residents. However, that’s part of the magic of the place.
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It’s a good idea to spend some time in small towns. They’re not terribly difficult to find. In fact, I’ll bet you could find one in an hour’s drive from where you are now. Just imagine that you’re standing in the middle of a highway. All you can hear are birds and cows. All you can smell are sage and sunflowers. Every ten or fifteen minutes, a car much shinier than its garage will drive by, so you’ll have to get out of the way.
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But otherwise, all is calm and quiet by day and a wonderland by night. Away from the city lights, the sky explodes with a bajillion stars. The Milky Way still flows here, and you can see all the constellations and satellites buzzing among them. It’s very important to find a place where you can see the stars. Too many people spend their lives looking forward, back, and around that they forget to look up. Kingston is just the right place to be reminded.
‘Til we meet again,