There's plenty of reasons for a history buff to want to visit Colorado, from its prehistoric era to the Wild West days to its rapid development in the American West.
Here are a few historical sites to add to your next road trip around Colorado:
1. Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
Preserving the resources of the Bent-St. Vrain trading empire, this historic site is located in southeastern Colorado near La Junta. Today, it is a reconstructed version of the 1840s adobe trading post. The site allows visitors to "step back in time" and learn about on the westward expansion of the United States.
2. Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site commemorates the November 29, 1864 attack on a village of about 700 Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho people along Sand Creek that was carried out by troops under US Volunteers Colonel John Chivington. The site includes a visitor picnic area and contact station with bookstore. The Monument Hill area also has an overlook, shade structure, and the Repatriation Area.
3. Yucca House National Monument
Set in the stunning Montezuma Valley, the Yucca House National Monument preserves a 600-room Ancestral Pueblo village. According to the National Park Service, Yucca House is one of the largest archeological sites in southwest Colorado, and serves as an important community center for the Ancestral Puebloan people from A.D. 1150-1300.
4. Hovenweep National Monument
Located on the southern border of Colorado and Utah, Hovenweep National Monument includes six prehistoric villages built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. The site consists of a variety of structures, including multi-story towers. The area is also home to hiking trails and great opportunities for stargazing. Rangers give educational talks during the summer.
5. Chimney Rock National Monument
According to its website, Chimney Rock consists of seven square miles and preserves 200 ancient homes and ceremonial buildings. Some have been excavated for viewing and exploration, including a Great Kiva, a Pit House, a multi-family dwelling, and a Chacoan-style Great House Pueblo. The hike to the top is a half mile, and hikers are "rewarded with dramatic 360-degree views of Colorado and New Mexico."
6. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
As home to one of the "richest and most diverse fossil deposits in the world," the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument features petrified redwood stumps up to 14 feet wide and thousands of detailed fossils of insects and plants. The area also has plenty of hiking opportunities and night sky programs.
7. Colorado National Monument
This monument consists of "towering monoliths" in a vast plateau and canyon panorama. Guests can see sheer-walled, red rock canyons as they make their way along Rim Rock Drive, and may even spot some bighorn sheep and eagles. The area also has camping opportunities at Saddlehorn Campground.
8. Curecanti National Recreation Area
Curecanti consists of three reservoirs in the Upper Gunnison River Basin (Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal). The area has opportunities for hiking, boating, kayaking, camping, fishing, paddle-boarding, and more. Curecanti's rock layers "tell a story of past environment, ancient animals and dynamic processes of change."
9. Dinosaur National Monument
Guests will get to see dinosaur remains embedded in the rocks at this national monument . There are also petroglyphs preserved that were left by earlier people who inhabited the area. The area has opportunities for camping and river rafting, and more.
10. Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
Canyons of the Ancients encompasses 174,000 acres of public lands that have the highest known archaeological site density in the United States, with "rich well-preserved evidence of Native American cultures." The area includes villages, great kivas, cliff dwellings, shrines, petroglyphs and more.
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