T.A. Moulton Barn, Grand Teton NP, WY

Sign in to add this photo to your favorites and desktop wallpaper rotation.

The T.A. Moulton Barn stands on Mormon Row, a cluster of homesteads in Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming, just east of the small community of Kelly and near the Antelope Flats area. Its weathered wooden frame and steeply pitched roof sit alone in an open expanse of sagebrush, with the jagged peaks of the Teton Range rising abruptly behind it. The contrast between the humble structure and the towering mountains has made it one of the most photographed barns in the American West. The barn was built by Thomas Alma Moulton and his sons, who homesteaded here in the early twentieth century. Construction began around 1912 and continued over several decades. Mormon Row was settled in the 1890s by Latter-day Saint families from Idaho, who chose the site for its fertile soil and its shelter from harsh winters. They dug irrigation ditches and worked together to raise crops and livestock. The land was later acquired for the expansion of the park, and the remaining buildings of the Mormon Row Historic District are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visiting the barn is a quiet experience, especially at sunrise, when early light strikes the Tetons and photographers gather along the gravel road. Bison and pronghorn often graze on the surrounding flats. The wind moving through the sage and the immense scale of the landscape give a vivid sense of the isolation and determination that defined homestead life in Jackson Hole.