south park city museum

The South Park City Museum in Fairplay is a totally unique collection of buildings from throughout the South Park Region. These buildings show the unique challenges posed to all types of peoples during the gold bust era of Colorado. From the apothocary shop to the dance hall you will find carefully preserved treasures of a bygone era. This is a small but worthy museum. Children of all ages are welcome and will find something of interest. The gift shop is also pretty special with a mix of local products, mostly handcrafted. remember to bring your camera, you are not limited on where and when you can use your photography skills and this offers many unique opportunities to capture your special memories. The family can crawl all over the train also. Have fun!

Lots and lots of houses from the earlier days in historical Colorado. A real chance to relive what life was like. From mines to trains to dentists offices, everything is there and quite accessible. This is supported by dedicated volunteers who show their love in every way. Just a few blocks off the main highway from Denver to Salida. A great place to stop.

We stopped by here after reading the reviews since we were staying at a B&B just down the road in Alma. The museum is located at the end of Front Street, and the building where you buy tickets and enter is right beside Rt 9 as you are leaving Fairplay. While this is called a "museum" it is not like a typical museum you may be familiar with but really like a small "town" consisting of 30 or so separate buildings (livery, barbar shop, dentists office, doctors office, assay office, etc) , most arranged along two sides of a "main street", and containing furnishings and various items from the period. There are various signs and plaques that tell you something about the history of the area or the equipment/furnishings/tools, etc you are looking at. I would recommend allowing at least 90 minutes to go through this museum but you could easily spend more time than that. There are restrooms in the building where you buy your tickets as well as in the "museum" itself. Admission to this museum was $8 for adults (with a AAA discount) which I felt was a bargain. There just aren't a lot of places like this to see a slice of history. I highly recommend a stop here if you are in the area - very interesting.

Some of the highlights:Seeing how small saddles were and then realizing cowboys weren't big men back then.Thinking about what the three people waiting for the dentist, barber or their bath were thinking when they heard the sounds of the dentist drilling away on some poor person's tooth while pumping the foot peddle that ran the drill.The soda fountain with beautiful onyx inlay work.Trying to guess what some of the old gizmos were.And...a pleasant surprise that because I have a rolling walker my $8 entry fee was waived. Sweet.We had a very good time visiting South Park City Musem.

We popped out to see this museum , thinking it would take an hour to see, 3 hours later we finished looking at this wonderful collection of old buildings , many which house some amazing collections.Don't forget to take your camera as there are some great photo opportunities. If you are not used to the high altitude , do as we did , and call in afterwards at The O2 Lounge in Main Street , Breckenridge, for some oxygen to revive you.A great day out for all ages.

Allow time, the ticket is good for a full day so if you are feeling the effects of the high altitude or just want to take a moment for lunch you can leave and come back. Towards the end I was beginning to fade away myself but kept at it because the buildings were so interesting and the items inside all called for some study. There are plenty of places to sit for a break, something you don't always find in museums of older buildings. If you have small children you might want to skip the saloon (a large painting of a nude woman). It's one of the last buildings. Even though it was warm outside I wore a sweater inside because some of the buildings were chilly. There's a basement in the brewery that shows a short but nice video near the start of the trail you take through town. Pets must be on a leash. There is a cat who wanders the street - seems to want people to notice it but not to pet it - so if your dog doesn't take to cats be prepared. This is not a handicapped friendly facility. You must be able to climb a hill or two, do stairs and walk gravel paths. No handrails at times and some of the things I tried to use for stability left me wondering if I might get a handful of splinters instead. Large strollers and wheelchairs would not fit into some of the hallways/rooms. Wear comfortable shoes and take water. And take a camera, you are allowed to take photographs. It's in a very scenic area and I was there in the fall so I got great photos of golden aspens in addition to the museum.

One of the best historic museum we've been to. The original buildings are impressive and educational. If you love history, this is a must,

This old mid-19th century mining town with 35 original buildings from the Colo Gold Rush days is totally fascinating and I am NOT a history buff! Located at the edge of Fairplay, Colorado this "museum" (really a town) is a trip to the past with buildings and items brought in from from other small mining towns. From a doctor's office and dentist office (with terrifying tools) to the livery and school house and drugstore, this "museum" is a fascinating look back filled with all the tools and trinkets of the day. Leave yourself a couple of hours as you will no doubt move slowly through the 42 buildings. Seriously...this is worth it. My favorite??? the Drugstore pictured!

If you are history-minded, you would love this place. I have seen my fair share of historical villages and this one would easily make the top ten. Nothing like man-made Columbia, CA, where all but two of the buildings are replicas. All 42 of the buildings they have here are absolutely genuine, not to mention the endless amount of appropriate artifacts they have inside the different places, like groceries in the General Store, and printing equipment in the Newspaper office and home furnishings in the houses and school books and desks in the one-room school, to mention only a few. Fairplay, where South Park City is located, was a wicked place: They started with the idea of "Fair Play" but gold quickly made the inhabitants deteriorate to bandits and murderers. A Methodist itinerant preacher, Father Dyer, was dying to salve the dreadful souls. He even moved a hotel from Mongomery, a dying town nearby, to Fairplay and made it church where he installed W.F. Warren for pastor. The local rascals promptly shaved the Reverend's horse and somebody attempted to steal the church... The current South Park City has Father Dyer's cabin. As well as a beautiful steam locomotive and some railroad cars, a real water tower and plenty of mining equipment, in addition the diorama representing all stages of gold mining and much more With such treasure-trove of historic structures and artifacts, one wishes that qualified docents conduct tours, or at least there be better signage. But you cannot have your cake and eat it, I guess. Once you exit the Historical Village, make sure to look up Prunes grave and monument. It's on the street parallel to Main. Prunes was a famous burro that worked the mines in the area. When he became old and could not carry heavy loads anymore, he had the free roam of the city and the citizens loved him so much, that when he died they buried him and put a monument (see photo). On the left is his harness. When his owner died, he asked to be cremated and buried in the same place, behind the burro... By the way, if you go to South Park City, do yourself a favor and visit Alma, ten minutes away. Plenty of historical building there as well.

This place is worth a visit .Don't hurry your visit, allow at least an hour. The collection of old artefacts is enormous.

This is a town street composed of relocated houses and buildings from early Colorado. Very well done with bank, Dr office, livery, stagecoach, mining office, you name it. Totally full of old implements and furnishings. Totally recommend.

My husband & I visited this museum on Sun, August 24 and truely enjoyed. We had assumed that we might see some old mining tools or something, but, actually, there were variety of buildings such as cabin, school house, court house, doctor's office, general store, bank, train station, and etc. and each historical building restored the elegance and beauty of the Victorian style articles. There were a lot of histocial articles to see. We lived in San Francisco Bay Area and visited many Victorian house tours before moving to CO, yet, this museum gave us a new experience to explore the beauty of the Victorian era and the day to day life in a small town in the time. Highly recommend for all ages to visit and check the website regarding season & hours. AAA member discount available, $8 for adult.

If you want to get a true feel for what life was like for mining communities in Colorado in the 1880's this is the place to go. All authentic buildings with some on the original location and others taken from abandoned mining towns over Colorado and beautifully brought to this location to show you how these people lived. Absolutely fascinating. There are 42 buildings to walk through filled with artifacts and furniture. A must see. It is not far from Breckenridge, Colorado. If you enjoy history, this is the place to go for everyone.

We stumbled upon this great find while traveling through Colorado. It is a true step back in time to the old west. 30 old buildings brought together with every bit of their original contents inside allows you and kids to really get a feel of what olden days life was like. The detail is fantastic! Take kids into the old school and they will know what it was like to go to a one room school house. Don't pass this stop up. It is worth even an hour if that is all you have. You'll want to come back though!

We accidentally found this place because we saw a train as we were driving to see the Tour of Colorado cycling race. This is really cool set of buildings (41 in all) in the form that they would have been in over a hundred years ago. I must admit I was a little skeptical at $10 per adult, but it was well worth it.To top it of, it has a train and our son loved that. I would highly recommend this place.