Santa Fe National Historic Trail

National Trails Intermountain Region
PO Box 728
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-0728

Phone
Visitor Information
(505) 988-6098

Explore the Places to Go in Colorado

Here are historic sites and interpretive facilities on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail in Colorado for you to visit:

Location: This historic site is approximately 2 miles south of Las Animas on Colorado Highway 101.

Hours: unrestricted

Historical Significance: Boggsville was once a stage stop on the Santa Fe Trail. Key businesses there were trading stores, owned by Thomas O. Boggs (built in 1862) and John W. Prowers (built in 1867). Boggsville became the seat of Bent County in 1870, but the coming of the railroad to nearby Las Animas brought about the town’s downfall by 1880.

Available Facilities: Today, Boggsville is a renovation project in progress. Seeing the site now, which has just a few buildings and old foundations, it is hard to imagine that here is where the cattle and sheep industries first boomed in Colorado. A lot of the early history of Colorado started here. Slowly, some of the buildings are being restored and more are going to be rebuilt.

Exhibits: A bronze state historical marker is located along Colorado Highway 101, and there are several interpretive markers along an area hiking path.

Location: 312 E. Main St. (US Highways 160 and 350) between Chestnut and Walnut streets

Telephone: (719) 846-7217

Hours: Hours are 10:00 am to 4:00 pm daily from May 1-September 30, and October 1-April 30 by appointment only.

Historical Significance: The house was built by a Santa Fe Trail merchant, John Hough, and later sold to the Baca Family. The Santa Fe Trail passed near the house, and several of its present furnishings were brought west on the trail.

Available Facilities: The house boasts two stories, a widow's walk, and Greek architectural details. Colorful Rio Grande textiles, Victorian furniture, and other period furnishings evoke the lifestyle of this prominent family. The structure is now part of the Trinidad History Museum complex, which is operated by the Colorado Historical Society.

Exhibits:The Santa Fe Trail Museum, which is in an adobe building adjacent to the Hough-Baca House, displays historic photographs, commercial goods, and family heirlooms from Trail days through Trinidad's heyday at the turn of the century. A fringed buckskin coat attributed to Kit Carson is featured. This building first served as living quarters for the Baca family's domestic workers.

Trinidad Lake State Park, outside Trinidad

Location:32610 State Highway12,‎5 miles west of Trinidad, in the foothills of the Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Telephone: (719) 846-4730 or (719) 846-6951

Hours: unrestricted

Historical Significance: The park is bordered by the Scenic Highway of Legends (Highway 12, which encircles the Spanish Peaks) and the Santa Fe Trail (which skirts the eastern edge of the park south of Trinidad).

Available Facilities: This 2,500 acre park, at an average altitude of 6,300 feet, offers a wide variety of recreational activities. Trinidad's 800 acre lake offers boating and fishing.

Exhibits: Exhibits are in the visitor center, along with a wayside exhibit at an overlook of nearby Raton Pass.

Places to Go

Colorado
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Missouri
Kansas (East)
Kansas (West)

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