TLC
The Rockland Ranch Community Existed Long Before TLC’s ‘Three Wives, One Husband’
Located just south of Moab, UT is a community called Rockland Ranch (aka “The Rock”) which is made up of 14 families — and half of the adult men are practicing polygamists. Some of those families opened up their homes to cameras for the latest TLC series, Three Wives, One Husband. But this community existed long before polygamy became a popular topic on reality TV — here’s everything we know about the history of Rockland Ranch.
What is Rockland Ranch?
What is now considered Rockland Ranch was originally called “Rockdale Ranch” and it consists of 82 acres of land that was leased from the government for roughly $6,400 per year, according to Sister Wives Blog.
It was founded by polygamist Bob Foster.
Back in 1972, the fundamentalist Mormon was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for bigamy — which is defined as the act of going through a marriage ceremony while already married to another person. He was arrrested and charged in 1974 and served 20 days in prison. After he was released he set out to find a place where his polygamous family could live without having to worry about being targeted by Utah law enforcement since polygamy is illegal. Bob was also a believer that the end of days was near, so he leased the section of the desert in 1979 with a 50-year lease because he didn’t think the world would exist past the year 2029.
Bob Foster’s son Enoch is considered the leader of the community.
After his father passed way in 2008, Enoch took over. His family is featured in the TLC series — which consists of Enoch, his first wife Catrina, his second wife Lilian, and their 17 children.
Rockland Ranch is self-sustaining.
Each family has a home that is built right into a section of sandstone formations in the Utah desert complete with an orchard, vegetable gardens, farm animals like cows and chickens, and a water storage reservoir. The families also have solar panels and a generator and access to the Internet.
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