Provo Vacations, Provo Vacation Reviews, Tourism Guide

Provo Vacation Guide

Provo is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States, located about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. It lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south. It is the home of Brigham Young University, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The LDS Church's largest Missionary Training Center is located in Provo.

Provo was originally called Fort Utah when it was settled in 1849 by 33 Mormon families from Salt Lake City, but was re-named Provo in 1850 for Étienne Provost, an early French-Canadian trapper who arrived in the region in 1825. Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante, a Spanish Franciscan missionary-explorer is considered the first European explorer to visit the area in 1776, but only came as far north as Utah Valley (Provo), some 30 miles south of the Salt Lake City area. Escalante chronicled this first European exploration across the Great Basin desert.