Day 8 & 9 of our vacation has us leaving the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and driving on back roads to Fairplay, CO. The previous post in my Blog shows images captured from that portion of the road trip. Once in Fairplay, we checked into our hotel, The Fairplay-Valiton Hotel. When we asked what sights were in the area that first time visitors might want to see we were directed to South Park City which is located in Fairplay.  South Park City, as described in Wikipedia, “is an open-air museum located at the west end of Front Street in the town of Fairplay in Park County, CO. The museum is a historic reconstruction of a mining town from the days of the Colorado Gold Rush and the later Colorado Silver Boom (late 1850s through the 1880s).

“The museum contains thirty-five authentic relocated buildings filled with over 60,000 artifacts that depict many of the economic and social aspects of life in a gold or silver mining town in Colorado in the late 19th century. Two of the buildings, the South Park Brewery and the Summer Saloon, are listed in the National Register of Historic Places."

“A log structure known as ‘Father Dyer’s Chapel’ was a hotel in Montgomery, Colorado but was dismantled, moved to Fairplay, and rebuilt as a church in 1868. It is named for John Lewis Dyer, the itinerant Methodist Clergman who preached in the area from 1861 to 1877 and is one of the sixteen founders of Colorado memorialized in the Colorado State Capitol in Denver."

In upcoming days I will post about our visit to the Great National Sand Dunes Park and then our stay in Antonito, CO for the purpose of riding the highest and longest narrow gauge, steam powered railroad in the United States; the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad which runs 64 miles from Antonito, CO to Chama, NM.

Enjoy the below slide show, and again, if you find this interesting please consider ‘Liking’ and ‘sharing’ on your choice of social media sights.  Thanks!