Gilgal Sculpture Garden

Behind ordinary houses and businesses in Salt Lake City, a former backyard holds a sphinx with the face of Joseph Smith, a self-portrait called The Monument to the Trade, and more than 70 boulders engraved with scripture, poems and literary texts. Thomas Battersby Child Jr. began the garden in 1945, aged 57. According to KSL in 2026, he was a respected masonry contractor and a bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not a trained artist. KSL reported that he went to "incredible lengths" to obtain boulders from across Utah and shaped them with an oxyacetylene torch, which KSL says gave the pieces a polished sheen. The name Gilgal comes from the Bible, where it refers to a circle of stones taken from the Jordan River, Friends of Gilgal president Judi Short told KSL in 2023. Child worked until his death in 1963, and thousands of visitors saw the pieces in his lifetime. Park historians told KSL that the Sphinx, the best-known piece, is meant to make visitors think and feel. The Friends of Gilgal Garden formed in 1997 as development threatened the site. KSL reported that donations, including from the church's philanthropic arm and Salt Lake County, bought the land in 2000 and passed it to the city, with opening ceremonies on 18 October 2000. The city lists 12 original sculptures and calls it the only visionary art environment designated in Utah. KSL reported on 3 August 2026 that the city's request to add the park to its list of protected local landmarks would begin with a Historic Landmark Commission presentation on 6 August, followed by further commission and City Council review. The garden's website lists free admission, seven days a week.