Frontier Homestead State Park: Hours, Admission and Exhibits

What is Frontier Homestead State Park?

Frontier Homestead State Park Museum is a Utah state park and history museum at 635 N Main St in Cedar City. It tells the story of the 1851 Iron Mission, when Latter-day Saint settlers were sent to Coal Creek to make iron, and holds one of the largest horse-drawn vehicle collections in the West. Admission is $4 per person.

The park was known as Iron Mission State Park before it took its current name, and the iron story is still at its center: the town bell on display is described by the park as the only known surviving artifact from the original foundry. Around it are pioneer artifacts, two of Cedar City's oldest buildings, a sawmill, a replica blast furnace and a Native Heritage exhibit. Most of the collection is indoors, with farm equipment and the historic buildings outside.

It is a small museum by big-city standards and an unusually good one for Southern Utah. Google reviewers rate it 4.7 stars across 867 reviews, and the most common comments are about the wagons, the gold panning and the hands-on exhibits for children.

What are the hours and admission at Frontier Homestead State Park?

Admission is $4 per person. From April through September the museum is open Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. From October through March it is open Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Sunday. It closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

The park fee page lists only those two fees, so there is no published child, senior or group rate. Special events sometimes change the price for the day; the museum has offered free admission during part of Iron Mission Days in past years.

Where is Frontier Homestead State Park Museum?

The museum is at 635 N Main St, Cedar City, UT 84721, about half a mile north of downtown on the east side of Main Street. From I-15 take the Cedar City 200 North exit (SR 56), head east into town, then turn north on Main Street for half a mile. There is free parking at the museum.

Open the location in Google Maps for directions.

What is there to see at Frontier Homestead?

The park lists horse-drawn vehicles used from 1850 to 1920, pioneer artifacts, an iron industry exhibit with the original foundry bell, the George Wood cabin and the Hunter House, a large outdoor collection of horse-drawn farm equipment, a sawmill, a replica blast furnace, a Native Heritage exhibit and hands-on stations including a 19th-century printing press and a century-old loom.

Horse-drawn vehicles

The vehicle hall is the first thing you see and the reason many people come. Wagons, carriages, sleighs and work vehicles from the 1850s to the 1920s show how people and freight moved before cars reached Iron County.

The Iron Mission

In November 1851 a company of settlers was sent from Parowan to Coal Creek to mine and smelt iron for the Utah Territory. The iron works struggled with floods, fuel and furnace problems and closed within a decade, but the town stayed. The museum's iron exhibit, the replica blast furnace and the foundry bell cover that story. The ruins of a later 19th-century foundry about 20 miles west of town, Old Iron Town, are part of the park; the park asks visitors to get directions from the front desk, and it has added a nature trail there.

Native Heritage exhibit

The Native Heritage exhibit covers the Paiute and earlier peoples of the region, who were here long before the Iron Mission arrived. It sits alongside the pioneer material so the two histories are read together.

Sawmill, blast furnace and historic buildings

Outside are a sawmill, the replica blast furnace, binders, mowers, reapers, plows, early hay balers, a well drill and a rare snow "tank", plus the George Wood cabin, which the park describes as the fifth-oldest structure still standing in Utah, and the Hunter House, Cedar City's oldest remaining brick home.

Hands-on and changing exhibits

Children can try the pioneer cabin, the printing press and the loom, and in summer the park runs gold panning, roping and pioneer laundry activities. A gallery of changing exhibits shows regional artists and rarely seen artifacts, and an audio tour with almost 60 stops covers the grounds.

What events does Frontier Homestead hold?

The park names Sheep-to-Shawl, Iron Mission Days and seasonal holiday events as its regular programs, with Archaeology Day, cemetery tours and summer hands-on days in past years. Sheep-to-Shawl runs in March and Iron Mission Days in November around Cedar City’s November 11, 1851 founding. 2026 dates were not posted when we checked.

The park's events page showed no upcoming events on October 11, 2026, so call (435) 586-9290 or check that page before planning a trip around an event. For everything else happening in town, see our Cedar City events calendar, and for the July celebrations, our Pioneer Day guide.

How long does Frontier Homestead take?

The park does not publish a suggested visit length. Based on the layout, allow about an hour for the indoor galleries and vehicle hall and up to two hours if you walk the outdoor equipment and buildings, follow the audio tour or come with children who want the hands-on stations. The grounds have picnic tables, drinking water and restrooms.

Things to do near Frontier Homestead in Cedar City

• Main Street Park (200 N Main St) is a five-minute walk south, with pavilions and a playground, and hosts Groovefest and the Pioneer Day Heritage Festival.
• Canyon Park, at the mouth of Cedar Canyon on the east side of town, has the Coal Creek Trail, pavilions and a creek for kids to play in.
• The Southern Utah Museum of Art on the SUU campus is free, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival runs June to October.
• Browse museums across Southern Utah or everything in the Cedar City guide.