yard features a recon- structed 1880s depot, roundhouse, depot, general store, and more than 100 train cars including a Rio Grande Southern #0404 Caboose and a Coors Refrigerator Car #5400. Locomotive exhibits feature a 90-foot “Armstrong” turntable and arti- facts, such as Otto Kuhler oil paintings and William Henry Jackson photographs.
(800) 365-6263 www.coloradorailroadmuseum.org
Georgetown-Silver Plume National Historic Landmark District
Clear Creek runs along the 19th-century mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume, which contain reconstructed his- toric buildings, such as the 1867 Hamill House and the 1875 Hotel de Paris. During the summer months, the narrow gauge Georgetown Loop steam loco- motive takes visitors 3.1 miles through Clear Creek Valley and past the Lebanon Silver Mine. Walking tours of the mine are available for visitors who want to see hard rock veined with silver inside the 1870s tunnel.
(303) 569-2504 www.colorado.com/Articles.aspx?aid=42175
MacGregor Ranch Museum
Founded in 1873 by the mountain ranch- ing MacGregor family, this working cattle ranch remains the oldest of its kind in operation. The 1896 ranch house has been converted into a museum containing MacGregor family artifacts, including diaries, clothing, and mineral collections. Visitors can explore the 42 buildings on the 1,200-acre site, including the milk house, smokehouse, and blacksmith shop.
(970) 586-3749 www.macgregorranch.org
Meeker Home Museum
Nathan Meeker, agricultural editor of the New York Tribune , began the “Union Colony of Colorado” here, a utopian community established within a town he named after his boss, Horace Greeley. Costumed interpreters lead visitors on 45-minute guided tours through the re- stored bedrooms that contain Meeker’s clock and bed stand, kitchen, and 1870 parlor.
(970) 350-9220 www.greeleygov.com/ museums/MeekerHome.aspx
Stanley Hotel and Museum
F. O. Stanley, inventor of the steam auto- mobile, built this hotel in 1909. Today it remains a historic landmark in Estes Park, Colorado’s oldest tourist town. Located 0.6 miles from the hotel, this museum contains exhibits on automotive history, featuring steam cars such as a 1909 Model R Stan- ley Roadster and Stanley’s airbrush por- traits of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Visitors can take a 90-minute guided tour of the historic hotel that leaves from the basement lobby.
(970) 577-1903 www.stanleymuseum.org
Timberlane Farm Museum
Costumed interpreters demonstrate farm- ing techniques of this working farm in Big Thompson Valley. Visitors can take self- guided tours of the 20-acre site and watch docents cut fleece and operate tractors, cultivators, and milking machinery.
(970) 663-7348 www.timberlanefarmmuseum.org
Centennial Village Museum
Adjacent to Island Grove Park, this five-acre outdoor museum showcases original and replicated structures, includ- ing 20th-century German and Swedish homesteads, which were moved here in 1976. Visitors can take self-guided walk- ing tours and view the late 19th-century cottage, chuck wagon, carpenter house, and a 1910 train depot.
(970) 350-9220 www.greeleyhistory.org/pages/centennial_ village.html
Limon Heritage Museum and Railroad Park
The 1910 depot, which once served both Chicago’s Rock Island Rocket and Union Pacific railroads, is now home to a restored railroad office and a western saddle boxcar. The museum contains Native American artifacts such as Arapahoe arrowheads, pottery, and clothing. The exhibit building offers displays of a prairie kitchen, barber- shop, and Cheyenne tipi.
(719) 775-8605 www.ourjourney.info/MyJourneyDestinations/ LimonHeritageMuseum.asp
Old Town Museum
This reconstructed six-acre village contains 21 restored 19th-and-20th-century build- ings, including the 1889 depot, 1911 schoolhouse, 1921 church, and longhorn saloon. The heritage hall museum features a chuck wagon, tractors, and World-War-II uniforms. Audio boxes inside each struc- ture enable visitors to hear recollections from contemporaries of the period.
(719) 346-7382 www.burlingtoncolo.com/old-town-museum.htm
Overland Trail Museum