About Us:

Toquerville, Washington County, is located about thirty miles south of Cedar City in a wide valley flanking Ash Creek and at the base of a mountain capped with black lava rock. With an elevation of 3,394 feet, it has a climate conducive to the growth of pomegranates, figs, peaches, and grapes. Pure, cold water pulses from springs a mile above town to furnish an ample supply  of culinary and irrigation water. It is an oasis in the desert.

Toquerville, as the area's cultural and religious center, grew rapidly--from nineteen families in 1859 to forty-one families in 1864. The increase resulted in part when the main body of Cotton Mission colonists was called to Dixie late in 1861 and a number of them went to Toquerville. Providentially, water from Toquerville springs increased after the floods of 1861-62; new springs and new channels were opened up, allowing irrigation on the west side of Ash Creek. A post office, the first to be authorized in Utah south of Cedar City, was established, with John Menzies Macfarlane as postmaster. James McFate erected a primitive hand-powered cotton gin. John Nebeker followed with a water-powered mill built in a rock building (still standing). Charles Stapley, a transplant from San Bernardino, is generally credited with growing the first alfalfa in Dixie and probably Utah. By 1864 Toquerville reported twenty-four acres of lucern (alfalfa) under cultivation.

Toquerville has deep, well-drained soils and temperatures ideal for growing grapes. The Mormon Wine Mission had no formal  call but was ancillary to the Cotton Mission of 1861. Wine of their own make was important to the Mormons because Joseph  Smith, the church's founder, had a revelation that they were to use water in the sacrament, unless they had wine of their own make. Master vintner John C. Naegle was called by Brigham Young to establish and operate a winery in Toquerville and to instruct the people in the process of making wine. Naegle built a big rock house with a wine cellar underneath large enough  to accommodate a wagon and a team of horses and allow them to turn around. He installed vats, presses, and other paraphernali a for fermenting wine. The product was stored in 500-gallon casks and shipped to ZCMI in 40-gallon casks. Not only was the wine paid as tithing but large amounts went to Pioche, Silver Reef, and to the settlements north. It became a major industry.