South Park City

South Park City is a recreation of a mid- to late 19th century gold-mining town. It is located in Fairplay, CO. Seven of the more than 35 buildings are on their original sites; the remaining structures were moved from deserted mining camps and ghost towns in Park County.

This attraction is laid out in a "V" shape with boardwalks on each side of the "street". The self-guided tour brochure led us from building to building. The buildings are furnished with period articles and furniture.

The first building we went into was furnished as the church it became after being moved. It was originally a hotel.

This is the Summer Brewery where South Park Lager beer was produced. There was a large collection of arrowheads in the basement.

This building containged several dioramas depicting the different ways that miners dug for gold. The next photo describes the process depicted in this photo.

Rache's Place was once a bustling saloon and gambling house operated in Alma during the mining era.

There were several different shapes of gambling tables.

Of course it had a piano too.

The Summer Saloon was built of native sandstone in 1879.

The Garo Cabin is restored as a wash house and contains the equipment used by a pioneer woman to maintain the family's wardrobe and other fabric items like curtains and bedding.

What I hadn't seen before was this lace curtain stretcher. If not stretched, the curtain would dry unevenly and wouldn't look good. The stretcher is adjustable for different sized curtains.

This is quite the iron collection.

The Park City Court House was constructed in 1862 in the town of Buckskin Joe, which was then the county seat.

The residents came to this window to record births, deaths, gold-claims and other transactions.

Inside the clerk's office.

Look at these old books.

The Assay Office where miners brought their gold to be valued.

Assay equipment.

Double click this photo so it enlarges to make the sign readable.

This is a reconstruction of a hard rock mine.

Double click to enlarge.

There was a little building up on top the hill that was called the Warm House.

One building was dedicated to the role of the burro in mining camps.

Burros carried the lumber up into the mountains so buildings could be erected.

The Wagon Barn housed various types of wagons including this hearse.

Also display is this camp trailer. Looks like an early RV.

It had a bed, a light fixture and seating that doubled as storage areas.

Of course it had heat too.

Read about this in the following photo. Very interesting how many people they could fit in one of these.

Double click to enlarge.

A large camp wagon.

There is a Porter Mogal #6 narrow gauge locomotive on site. This is the basic type used by the Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad.

Nolan had to get up and ring the bell over the engine.

There were a cars and this caboose attached to the locomotive. A caboose was a traveling home and office for the train crew.

The raised part in the front of the caboose is called the cupola. There was seating for 4 people in it.

The front half of the lower caboose.

The back half has the sleeping bunks and seating.

This small and cozy homestead shows the self-sufficiency of the early pioneer family.

The back door lead into the bedroom with an attached bathing room. I suppose having a door to the outside in the bedroom made it easy to access the outhouse.

Notice how the walls are covered in newspaper. Pioneers used the newspaper to help insulate their homes.

The Star Livery was where horses or rigs could be rented or horses boarded for the night.

The inside of the livery.

No sign told us what this lattice-work of leather strips was for. It looks like it is supposed to be thrown over a horse's back.

This was the stage barn where stage teams were curried and fed during stops overs.

Thi is the Stage Coach Inn where travelers had a night's rest and a hot meal during a brief respite from a long journey.

Inside of the Stage Coach Inn.

One of the rooms upstairs.

The sign at the foot of the bed.

This was quite a large room.

One building contained nothing but dioramas made by Hank Gentsch.

I think this guy needed some snow shoes.

Notice how they strapped the lumber to the burros.

The old one-room school house from Garo.

The school even had an outhouse. It was the only one I saw in South Park City.

Morgue and Carpenter shop.

Since the carpenter was the person that made the coffins, morgues of the 1800's were housed at the Carpenter's Shop.

Lots of old tools.

Dentist's Office

Waiting room.

This is the Ranger station. Usually headquartered in isolated areas, the early U.S. Forest Ranger was, of neccessity, a rugged, self-sufficient individual.

Doctor's Office.

Double-click to read.

Some of Dr. Baker's medical tools.

He even had an operating room.

This is a complete newspaper office typical of those found in early mining towns.

This two-story building contained a well-equiped general store on the first floor and an old Masonic Lodge Hall on the second.

The General Store was also the post office.

I saw this in the saloon earlier in the tour and didn't know what it was. Read the next photo.

The next building was the Bank of Alma. It contains many of it's original fixtures.

This guy was a teller for 10 years and the bank president for 13.

Next stop - J.A. Merriam Drug Store. The collection of drugs and remidies inside is reported to be one of the most complete collections of patent medicines in the U.S.

This is the only building that I noticed having a stamped tin ceiling.