are photographs and artifacts highlighting the crucial role of the 9th Cavalry.
(719) 379-3512 www.coloradohistory.org/ hist_site/ft_garland
Leadville Historic District
Fifty-eight historic buildings in the block downtown date back to the city’s frontier period. Sites include Tabor Opera House, the park commemorating the world’s largest ice palace, and the Healy House, an 1878 Greek Revival home that features Victorian furnishings of Leadville pioneers, such as silver tycoon, Horace Tabor.
(719) 486-3900 www.leadville.com/walktour
Historic Manitou Springs
This 138-year-old-town boasts a plethora of historic sites such as the three-building Cripple Creek District Museum, the Vic- torian Miramont Castle, a 46-room estate where visitors can sip high tea, and the Ghost Town Museum, featuring a black- smith’s shop, saloon, and stable, among other reconstructions, filled with thousands of artifacts.
(800) 642-2567 www.manitousprings.org
Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine
After discovering quartz veined with gold in 1891, Mollie Kathleen Gortner became the first woman in Cripple Creek, Col- orado, to stake a mining claim. Production continued for the next 70 years, producing more than $100 million worth of gold. Forty-minute guided tours include a ride in a miner’s cage down 1,000 feet into a gold mine. Visitors can also see demonstrations of a 1890s steam hoist, jack leg drills, and slushers in underground mining.
(719) 689- 2466 www.goldminetours.com
National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum
This 71,000-square-foot museum high- lights the history of mining through 22 dioramas depicting early gold miners, hands-on exhibits, and the Fluorescent Room, which contains minerals that fluo- resce under black light. Visitors can follow the mine-gauge track in a reconstructed hard rock mine, see a 23-ounce gold piece from the local Little Jonny Mine, and read the biographies of industry inductees.
(719) 486-1229 www.mininghallfofame.com
ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy
This 30,000-square-foot museum, dedi- cated to a sport that was originally a daily activity of working cowboys, contains the Hall of Champions with recent inductees, two 20-minute multimedia presentations on the early rodeo, and many exhibits documenting rodeo history through arti- facts, such as a saddle used by Cody Wright in the 2008 Bronc Riding World Championship.
(719) 528-4764 www.prorodeohalloffame.com
Rock Ledge Ranch
This 277-acre living history farm museum contains outdoor exhibits that depict life in four areas central to the Pikes Peak region. Visitors can take self-guided tours of the 1775 Ute Indian exhibit, which contains original tipis, the 1860’s Galloway home- stead, the 1880’s Chambers home and ranch with blacksmith shop, and the 1907 Edwardian country estate.
(719) 578-6777 www.rockledgeranch.com
South Park City Museum
This recreated 19th-century mining town contains seven original structures and 27 restored buildings, including a brewery, dentist office, schoolhouse, and stage- coach barn. Visitors can see an arrastra ore crusher, a Wilfley separating table used to recycle metal in the mining dis- play, and costumed interpreters leading horses in the corral.
(719) 836-2387 www.southparkcity.org
United States Air Force Academy
Established in 1954 during the Cold War, the Air Force’s premiere military school boasts a 31,600-square-foot visitors center that features exhibits exploring how the academy builds the moral, academic, ath- letic, and military character of their cadets, in addition to a survey of Air Force history dating back to its early years as a junior branch of the U.S. Army. A 250-seat the- ater plays a 14-minute film on the academy life of a cadet. Self-guided tours of the 18,000-acre campus include the honor court, field house, Arnold Hall, and cadet chapel.
(719) 333-2025 www.usafa.af.mil
Western Museum of Mining and Industry
This 17,000-square-foot museum, located on a 27-acre site, showcases the history of technological metallurgy in the Pikes Peak region with an 18-minute video on early mining camps in the West, and exh