Toquerville sits between La Verkin and Anderson Junction along UT-17, on the bench above La Verkin Creek where the highway connects to UT-9 and the Zion corridor. The town is one of the smaller incorporated places in Washington County and has held its rural character better than its neighbors — most of the traffic that uses UT-17 is passing through, and the town’s working economy is still partly orchards.
A pioneer-era settlement on a Paiute creek
The town was settled in 1858 by Mormon families pushed south from the older Cotton Mission outposts, and the name honors the Paiute leader Toquer (“black” in Southern Paiute), who was friendly to the early settlers. The pioneer-era houses on Center Street — adobe and sandstone two-stories from the 1860s and 1870s — are some of the better-preserved 19th-century domestic architecture in the county. The LDS chapel, the old schoolhouse, and the early homes sit within a few blocks of each other and form a small historic district that the town has preserved deliberately.
The orchard layer
Toquerville’s working agriculture has always been tree fruit. The bench has good drainage, a long growing season, and water from La Verkin Creek and the Toquer Reservoir on the east side. Peach, apricot, and almond orchards still operate on the east-of-town ground, and the seasonal fruit stands along UT-17 are part of the local rhythm — June apricots, July peaches, August almonds. The orchard ground has been pressured by Washington County’s general growth wave, but Toquerville has held more of its agricultural footprint than Hurricane or Washington City have.
Toquerville Falls
The town’s signature feature for outsiders is Toquerville Falls — a perennial cascade on La Verkin Creek about five miles back on a high-clearance dirt road from town. The falls run year-round (the creek is fed by springs at the base of the Hurricane Cliffs) and drop in tiers across travertine ledges into shallow pools. The road in is rough enough that the falls aren’t a casual stop — most low-clearance vehicles get turned back by the wash crossings — and the site has stayed comparatively un-overrun even as the rest of the Zion corridor has filled in. Side-by-side rentals out of Hurricane and Sand Hollow regularly run Toquerville Falls as a half-day route.
What the town is structured around
UT-17 runs north–south through the bench, connecting La Verkin (south) to Anderson Junction and I-15 exit 27 (north). Center Street runs east–west across the historic core, with the older homes, the chapel, and the town hall clustered there. The newer subdivisions are on the north and west benches; the orchards hold the east. La Verkin Creek runs through the south end of town and into the Virgin River gorge a few miles below. It is one of the few Washington County towns where the 19th-century street grid is still legible and the orchard economy is still partly working — and one of the only ones where a high-clearance back road is the route to the most-photographed local feature.