Description

Join us in touring to local sites of historical significance. Nonmembers are $5.00 additional, payable at the start of the tour.  Click here to first add a membership to your cart, then select CONTINUE SHOPPING and add the tour.

You will be informed of program changes or problems via email. Activities are subject to change due to bad weather. Refunds made if notified one week in advance or in case of an emergency. Members have priority due to limits by museums, parking, and other restrictions. No pets are allowed on tours. When carpooling remember to reimburse the driver.

Don’t let being hard of hearing stop you from signing up. We now have tour guide wireless receivers with earbuds for you

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June 17, 2026  – 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
“DRALA CENTER & ELKHORN HISTORY”

The Shambhala Mountain Center, now the Drala Center, is located in the Colorado Rockies, was established in 1971 as a contemplative retreat. One of the most distinctive features of this center is the presence of the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya. This piece of sacred architecture is incredibly important to the center’s visitors, as it promotes harmony, health, prosperity, peace and freedom. The incredible location includes 600-acres mountain valley, allowing for a peaceful, quiet experience isolated from the distractions of everyday life.

Elkhorn History – Including Elkhorn Store & Post Office, Elkhorn Hotel – John Miller filed his 160-acre homestead claim on Elkhorn Creek about five miles west of Log Cabin, settling near a wagon trail that is now County Road 68C. When postal authorities decided to move the post office at the gold town of Manhattan to Miller’s ranch, John decided to build a store at the edge of the roadway to house the facility, and name his property “Elkhorn.” There was a big barn on the ranch so when the teamsters where driving through on their way to the Poudre, they decided to stay there before taking the trip over Pingree Hill. During the winter of 1916-17, the Millers started building a new store and post office at Log Cabin.

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JULY 11, 2026 – 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
HISTORIC HOME TOUR

Join us for a tour of historic cabins in Red Feather Lakes including the following:

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July 15, 2026 – 8:30 – 2:00
KENNEDY MOUNTAIN CAMPUS & LADY MOON BARN PLUS 
LAFI & JO’S MUSEUM

The Kennedy Mountain Campus was purchased from the Girl Scouts of America who purchased the land in 2007 and later sold to the University of Denver in 2021. The Kennedy Mountain Campus is 730 acres, which at one time part of the development of the area, first homesteaded by ranchers. Before the ranchers tNunt’zi (Ute), Tsitsista (Cheyenne), and Hinonoeino (Arapaho) Nations were the original people of these lands. Learn about the work DU is doing:
https:// www.du.edu/equity/indigenous-initiatives

LADY MOON BARN – Kate (Lady Catherine Gratton Lawder Moon) met and married a miner named Frank H. Gartman in the mid-1880s when he worked in the mines at Manhattan. In 1987 Frank and Catherine bought a relinquishment of 160 aces known as Cold Spring Park from a couple named Napier. The property later had several owners, including Cecil Moon. The log barn on the place was supposedly built in 1886 and was definitely built by Gartman, which proves he was a real craftsman. Possibly it was built for Napier before Gartman bought the place. “Excerpt & picture from Those Crazy Pioneers by Lafi Miller”

LAFI & JO’S MUSEUM – Includes several historic items– Aunt Sylvia’s Buggy, Lady Moon’s Piano, Saddles, Tables, one from Livermore, Truck driven by Sylvia & several other items all from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

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August 19, 2026 – 8:30 am – 4:00 pm
“OTTO LUMBER CAMP” – Lead by Lawrence Fullenkamp

Archaeological studies in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, particularly in Larimer County, have uncovered significant history related to early 20th-century logging companies and “tie hacks” (workers who hand-hewed railroad ties) who produced railroad ties. These studies provide insight into the daily life for “tie hacks” and the environmental impact of early logging infrastructure like the Stuck Creek dam. In the 1940’s, the CCC camp on Deadman was used by the Otto Lumber company for operations in the Deadman area. POW camp was located near Greeley and they would send up 50 to 100 POWs in the summer to help with Forestry, Logging, and Conservation projects similar to the CCC crews.

At lunch, Brian will share a picture that was painted by one of the German POW’s and will talk about the history of the CCC Camp in the 1930’s and the POWs in the1940”s. We will then go to the Deadman Tower where Lawrence will talk about it.

The POWs would work for the Forest Service or any other work that was needed. Bernice George, who worked at the tower, said ,“they were not violent people and they liked to bake and the food would make it to the tower.”  You can read her history at:
redfeatherhistoricalsociety.org/local-histories/personal-histories/#poulsen