Butch Cassidy's Childhood Home in Utah: My Unexpected Stop
I wasn't looking for Butch Cassidy's childhood home when I came across it on my way back to Moab.
Words by Michele Underwood | Photos by Michele
The roadside sign for Butch Cassidy's Boyhood Home is hard to miss once you pull into the site along Highway 89.
As I was driving down Highway 89 toward Moab, I had no idea Butch Cassidy's childhood home would literally be right off the road. I saw the little cabin as I was driving by and had to stop.
I knew who Butch Cassidy was, but I had no idea his childhood home was still standing in Utah. I definitely wasn't looking for it, which made finding it even cooler. His infamous legacy is written throughout Utah and Colorado, and I think it's really cool to see the places where these outlaws once roamed.
Once I stopped and started reading about the cabin, I wanted to know more about the person who lived here before he became Butch Cassidy. How did Robert LeRoy Parker go from growing up in this little cabin in Utah to becoming one of the most famous outlaws in the American West?
Where It Is, and How I Found It
Butch Cassidy's boyhood home near Circleville, Utah, where Robert LeRoy Parker lived with his family during part of his teenage years.
Butch Cassidy's childhood home, also known as the Butch Cassidy Boyhood Home, sits along Highway 89 just south of Circleville, Utah. The cabin sits right off the highway, which is exactly how I found it.
It's an easy place to stop if you're already traveling through this part of Utah. You can pull off the highway, walk around the property, and see the cabin without making a big detour or turning it into an entire day.
That was part of what I liked about finding it. I wasn't looking for Butch Cassidy history that day. It was just suddenly there in front of me.
Before Butch Cassidy, He Was Robert Parker
An interpretive sign at the cabin shares more about Robert LeRoy Parker's teenage years here before he became Butch Cassidy.
Before he became Butch Cassidy, he was Robert LeRoy Parker. He was born in Beaver, Utah, in 1866 to Maximillian and Ann Parker, English immigrants who had settled in Utah. Robert was the oldest of 13 children.
The Parker family eventually moved to the Circleville area, where Robert spent part of his teenage years on the family's ranch. The historic site dates his time here to roughly 1880 through 1884, when he would have been about 14 to 18 years old.
When you hear the name Butch Cassidy, it's easy to immediately think about bank robberies, train robberies, the Wild Bunch and the Sundance Kid. Standing at his childhood home made me think more about the person who existed before all of that.
At one point, he was simply Robert Parker, a kid growing up with a large family in rural Utah. Historical information at the site describes him as a fun big brother who liked dancing, racing horses and reading. He was also remembered as a hard worker who was kind to animals. Those are such ordinary details compared with the stories that would eventually surround Butch Cassidy, and I think that's what makes them interesting.
The cabin itself is small and simple — essentially one room — and seeing it in person gives you a very different picture of Butch Cassidy than the outlaw stories do. This wasn't the home of a famous outlaw when the Parker family lived here. It was simply their home. Robert was a teenager living with his family, working around the ranch and growing up in a rural part of Utah.
Is It Worth Stopping For?
The cabin near Circleville could easily have disappeared. It deteriorated over the years, but preservation efforts helped save and restore it, and Utah has since preserved the property as the Butch Cassidy State Monument. What I like about the site is that the cabin is still the focus — you can walk around it, look inside, and get a sense of how simple the Parker family's life here would have been. For someone whose later life became so legendary, his beginnings were pretty modest.
The site isn't large, so you don't need a lot of time. There are interpretive signs that tell more about Parker's early life, and reading those after I stopped is really what sent me down the rabbit hole of wanting to know more about him.
I think it's worth it, especially if you're already traveling Highway 89 through this part of Utah. I wouldn't expect a large museum or something that takes hours to visit — just a small historic site centered around the cabin where Robert LeRoy Parker spent part of his teenage years. For me, that was enough.
I probably wouldn't have known it was there if I hadn't happened to see it from the road. I hadn't planned any of this — I'd been driving back toward Moab thinking about where I was headed next, and suddenly I was standing outside the childhood home of one of the most famous outlaws in the West. Those unexpected places are often the ones I remember most.
The cabin itself is small and simple. It's essentially a one-room wooden cabin, and seeing it in person gives you a very different picture of Butch Cassidy than the outlaw stories do.
This wasn't the home of a famous outlaw when the Parker family lived here. It was simply their home. Robert was a teenager living with his family, working around the ranch and growing up in a rural part of Utah.
The cabin deteriorated considerably over the years, but preservation efforts helped restore it. I'm glad they saved it because having the actual cabin there makes the history feel much closer. You aren't just reading a marker telling you Butch Cassidy once lived somewhere nearby. You're standing in front of the place itself.
I write Overland Girl, where I share firsthand travel experiences across the American West — from desert landscapes and national parks to small towns layered with history. My work blends movement, place, and the stories that shape them.
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