By Donna M. Kemp
Deseret News staff writer

The new Joseph F. Smith Memorial Grove will be a haven for introspection about Utah’s heritage for Mormons and non-Mormons alike, church and state leaders say.

“Whether you have been in Utah for five days or five generations, this is your heritage,” Gov. Mike Leavitt said during Monday’s dedication at This Is the Place Heritage Park. “It is the substance and stuff of which this state was made.”

The memorial was dedicated by Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Gordon B. Hinckley had been scheduled to offer the dedicatory prayer but a summer cold forced him to cancel.

The ceremony — the first of which organizers hope will become an annual event — was conducted in sweltering afternoon heat that drew several thousand determined spectators. Many of them were descendants of Joseph F. Smith, the LDS Church’s sixth president.

Those descendants were among the Utahns who contributed funds toward creation of the memorial.

One feature of the grove will be a lilac bush that has been kept alive since Hyrum Smith, Joseph F. Smith’s father, planted it at the family home more than 150 years ago.

Leavitt said he was honored to have the memorial grove given to the state.

“On behalf of the people of the state of Utah, generations past and generations to come, I accept this worthy addition to this park with the challenge that we all stand here on occasion and look into the past and plan our future accordingly,” Leavitt said.

Elder Ballard praised the hard work of the foundation, state and community leaders who have worked to bring about many improvements to the park. He also envisioned a day when it would become “a little Williamsburg of the West” that visitors will want to see when they come to Utah.

He also praised the life of Joseph F. Smith, who came across the Great Plains at age 9 and built a legacy that lives today.

“This is the spirit of This Is The Place Heritage Park, and we hope that the spirit of the Joseph F. Smith Memorial Grove will linger in the hearts of those who come and enjoy this quiet, peaceful place,” he said.

“Perhaps people may come there, sit and ponder and think of their own ancestors, their own forefathers who paid such a great price to establish this valley here in the mountains,” Elder Ballard said in a prayer.

E-mail: donna@desnews.com