Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site | Colorado Springs, CO 719-578-6777 | visit our website Towering Pikes Peak and the red rock formations of the Garden of the Gods serve as the dramatic back drop for Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site in Colorado Springs.  The ranch is owned by the City of Colorado Springs and operated as a living history museum, interpreting the history of the settlement of the Pikes Peak Region between 1775 and 1910.Visitors will learn about the rigors of homesteading, the perils of 19th century agriculture and the sophistication of an early 20th century estate built by the founder of Colorado Springs.

Trails of Gold | Victor, CO 719-689-2675 | visit our website The Trails of Gold is a series of hiking trails & interpretive sites through Victor's 1890s gold rush mining country. Located as a side trip off the Gold Belt Tour National Scenic Byway, the trail passes by historic mines, mill sites, and railroad routes.  Although privately owned, many of these sites are open and accessible to the public.

Lariat Loop Scenic and Historic Byway | Golden, CO visit our website The completion of the Lariat Trail in 1914 allowed early automobile travelers to escape the congestion of Denver and test their driving skills on a twisting mountain road that featured numerous hairpin turns and sharp drop-offs.  Today, drivers and bicyclists can experience the same thrills on the 40-mile Lariat Loop Trail, a designated Colorado Scenic & Historic Byway.  Numerous historic sites and structures are located along the route, including several museums open to the public.

Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art | Denver, CO 303-832-8576 | visit our website The Kirkland Museum has a nationally important collection of 20th century decorative arts with more than 3,300 displayed works of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Glasgow, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Modern and Pop Art Styles.  The Museum was built as an art school in 1911 and contains the historic studio of Colorado modernist painter Vance Kirkland.Vance Kirkland's paintings are hung throughout the building.

Rosemount Museum | Pueblo, CO 719-545-5290 |visit our website Rosemount was the home of prominent Pueblo businessman John A. Thatcher and his wife Margaret. It was designed by noted New York architect Henry Hudson Holly.  Completed in 1893, the home cost $100,000 including appointments and furnishings-- an enormous sum for those times. The 37 room mansion is a three story brick building faced with rose colored rhyolite.  The roof is Vermont slate with columned chimneys serving ten fireplaces.

Pueblo Zoo Islands of Life | Pueblo, CO 719-561-1452 | visit our website Built in the 1930s, the five historic structures in the Pueblo Zoo Historic District were a product of the New Deal- a federal and local employment program developed during the Great Depression to put Americans back to work. Hand-crafted stonework on the structures is an expression of the American Rustic movement first developed in 1916.   Because of its quality, craftsmanship and uniqueness, the Pueblo Zoo Historic District is an architectural treasure worthy of national attention.

Telluride Historical Museum | Telluride, CO 970-728-3344 | visit our website Located in the Old Miner's Hospital, the Telluride Historical Museum provides visitors with a view into the life of early twentieth century hard rock miners who lived and worked in a harsh and often dangerous mountain environment.  The museum retains the hospital's original operating room and nurses' station and interprets Telluride's boom-bust-boom history with interactive dramatic exhibits.

Historic Fourth Street Corridor | Loveland, CO visit our website One of the hidden gems along Colorado's Front Range is downtown Loveland, where historic architecture, independent businesses and the arts come together to create a rich environment for visitors and residents alike.  The historic Fourth Street corridor between Railroad and Washington streets is filled with numerous historic buildings that tell the story of Loveland's development as a railroad and agricultural center.

Historic Downtown Salida | Salida, CO 719-539-4555 | visit our website Located adjacent to the scenic Arkansas River, Salida's downtown streets are lined with interesting historic structures and a variety of independently-owned galleries, bicycle shops, restaurants and other retail businesses. Founded as a railroad town, Salida is now evolving into a lively center for tourism, arts and recreation.Downtown Salida features one of the state's finest collections of turn-of-the-century commercial architecture and is a designated historic district.

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center | Colorado Springs, CO 719-634-5581 | visit our website A rare combination of southwestern, modern and classical design, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is regularly listed as one of the state's most important architectural landmarks.  Architect John Gaw Meem realized the vision of the Fine Arts Center's founder, Alice Bemis Taylor, to create a center for the visual and performing arts as well as arts education, all under one roof;This summer, the Fine Arts Center will open a new addition to the original building, which is being fully restored as part of a $28 million construction project.

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site | Kiowa County, CO 719-383-5051 | visit our website The newest addition to the national park system, the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site marks the location of one of the most infamous events in Colorado history.  On November 29, 1864, 700 members of the First Colorado and Third Colorado U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, under the command of Colonel John Chivington, attacked an encampment of about 500 non-combatant and mostly unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal members.  Approximately 160 people were killed, the majority of whom were women and children.[*]

The Leadville Historic Walking Tour and Heritage Museum | Leadville, CO visit our website In the late 19th century, Leadville was the richest mining district in the world. Leadville's mining history began in 1860 with the discovery of gold south of town. About 8,000 prospectors soon arrived, and during the next five years, unearthed more than $4 million worth of gold. Once the gold played out, most of the prospectors moved on. A few remained and discovered the area was also rich in silver and lead. Prospectors once again swarmed the town. By 1880, Leadville was home to more than 30,000 residents, along with stores, hotels, saloons, dance halls, gambling joints and brothels.

Molly Brown House | Denver , CO 303-832-4092 | visit our website The Molly Brown House Museum interprets the life of Margaret Tobin Brown the famous survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. However Margaret, as she was known, is also a significant figure in Colorado history.  After earning a fortune in gold in Leadville, Margaret and her husband J.J., moved to Denver and became active in the community.  Margaret was a founding member of the Denver Women's Club.  She became a suffragist and even ran for the United States Senate in 1914, despite the fact that women could not vote in federal elections.

The Colorado Chautauqua | Boulder, CO 303-449-0790 | visit our website Theodore Roosevelt called Chautauquas "the most American thing in America."  One of the best examples of a Chautauqua camp can found at the base of the Flatirons on the west edge of Boulder.  The idea for these camps originated at Lake Chautauqua, New York in 1876 and quickly caught on around the country.  Before radio and television, the Chautauqua Movement united millions in common cultural and educational experiences. Orators, performers, and educators traveled a national Chautauqua circuit of more than 12,000 sites, bringing lectures, performances, concerts, classes, and exhibitions to thousands of people in small towns and cities.

Timpas Unit of the Comanche National Grassland | Otero and Las Animas Counties, CO 719-384-2181 | visit our website Evidence of thousands of years of human history can be found at the Comanche National Grassland, a unit of the United States Forest Service. Sites representing Native American, Hispanic, and European-Americans' adaptations to the High Plains can be found in a natural setting marked by contrasts between steep canyon lands and vast open prairie.

City of Durango | Durango, CO 970-247-3500 | visit our website Nestled between red sandstone bluffs in the lush Animas River Valley, Durango, is blessed with natural beauty matched only by its colorful history. As miners flocked into Southwest Colorado in the 1870s, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Company purchased land from homesteaders to establish Durango's charming downtown. With the quick mining money came grand hotels, fine Victorian buildings and even a 3 story "skyscraper," all of which still stand in Durango's historic district. Along Main Avenue, the big red trolley runs daily past the brick and stone buildings that still bear the names of the frontiersmen who built them.

Trinidad History Museum | Trinidad, CO 719-846-7217 | visit our website Explore the past and present of the American West at the Trinidad History Museum.  The museum features several attractions on one block of Trinidad's acclaimed historic district, "El Corazon de Trinidad."  Historic homes, local treasures, and lovely gardens make the Trinidad History Museum a great place to spend the day.  The Trinidad History Museum is a property of the Colorado Historical Society.

The Kauffman House | Grand Lake, CO 970-627-9644 | visit our website Located on the north shore of scenic Grand Lake, the historic Kauffman House offers a glimpse into an era when tourism was just beginning to take hold as a major industry in Colorado.  The two-story log structure was built in 1892 as a hotel and residence for the Kauffman family, who operated the hotel until 1946.  Purchased by the Grand Lake Area Historical Society in 1973, the Kauffman House has been carefully restored to allow visitors to learn more about the days when accommodations for travelers were simple and rustic.  The Kauffman House is located just a block off the main commercial street in the historic center of Grand Lake, where visitors will find several other examples of early, Rustic-style architecture.

The Hewes-Kirkwood Inn/Rocky Ridge Music Center | Estes Park, CO 970-586-4031 | visit our website Tucked into a forested hillside on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, the Hewes-Kirkwood Inn is a historic Rustic-style resort that has been converted to a highly regarded music center.  In 1907, novelist and poet Charles Edwin Hewes homesteaded a wooded 960-acre parcel in the shadow of Longs Peak with his brother and mother.  The family opened the Hewes-Kirkwood Inn for guests in 1914, many of whom came to prepare for (and recover from) the grueling hike up nearby Longs Peak.

Cherokee Ranch | Sedalia, CO 303-688-5555 | visit our website Cherokee Ranch and Castle is a place where people can discover a distinctive architectural treasure in an extraordinary natural setting. It is the legacy of two families–the Johnson Family from the early 1900s and Tweet Kimball in the mid 1900s. The Johnsons purchased the land, built the castle and started a working ranch on about 2,200 acres. In 1954, Tweet Kimball purchased the ranch and raised prize winning Santa Gertrudis cattle.

This project is paid for in part by a State Historical Fund grant
from the Colorado Historical Society.