Logan High School students visited St. Anne’s Retreat in Logan Canyon on Wednesday to study local folklore and history. The trip, described by a Utah State University folklorist as sanctioned legend-tripping, allowed students to explore the site known locally as the Nunnery.
The tour was led by mythology teacher Amara Gilpin as part of a three-day unit. Students from mythology and honors English classes were accompanied by Joe Kinzer, a Utah State University Library faculty member and folklorist, and Cameron Jensen, the property's new owner. Jensen is currently working to restore the property with plans to transform it into a resort.
The retreat, also known as Pine Glenn Cove or Hatch’s Camp, began as a summer home for the Boyd Hatch family and Hortense Odlum. It was donated to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City in the 1950s and was used as a retreat for the Sisters of the Holy Cross. While the Diocese uses the spelling St. Ann’s Retreat, Utah State University uses the folk spelling, St. Anne’s, in digital exhibits because it appears more frequently in oral traditions and scholarly works.
The site is the subject of various legends involving ghostly nuns and crying babies. Kinzer noted that legends are often attached to actual places and people, whereas myths typically deal with origins or gods. He also pointed out how folklore can absorb real events, such as a 1997 incident where more than 30 students encountered armed security guards while trespassing at the retreat.
The mythology unit will conclude with a student reflection before the class transitions to studying Roman, Norse, and Egyptian mythology.
