Historic Telluride Colorado

In my prior post, I showed you the wonderful house we rented during the Thanksgiving week, in the Log Hill Village area of Ridgway, in SW Colorado, that had a panoramic view of the San Juan Mountain Ranges. Another good aspect of that house's location was that it was almost midway between the towns of Ouray and Telluride--two places we heard much about and wanted to visit.  

The drive to Telluride from Ridgway was about 45 minutes long...

... scenically winding around hills and mountains.

We took this drive at the end of November--in winter the views would be much more snow-filled!

We entered the charming Historic District of Telluride.  Established in 1878, Telluride began as a remote mining town,  At an elevation of 8,745 feet, it is located in a majestic box canyon surrounded by 13,000 and 14,000-foot mountains. The area's mines provided silver, zinc, lead, copper, and gold ores for some years, When silver prices crashed in 1893, followed by World War 1, the mining industry slowed down and Telluride's population dwindled from thousands to hundreds. Fortunately, in the 1970s Telluride reinvented itself as a ski town. Soon, cultural events, festivals, music, and performing arts made the town a popular year-round destination.  Its world-class skiing and the beautiful ambiance made it popular with the wealthy.  The median price for a house in Telluride is now 3.8 million dollars!  Tom Cruise, Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey, and Laura Linney are among the entertainers who have owned houses in the area.

This iconic view looking down Main Street in Telluride took my breath away!

I enjoyed walking around the town and seeing some of its landmark buildings such as the San Miguel County Courthouse, the First National Bank building, and the New Sheridan Hotel.

 Click on the photo above to enlarge it, to see some historical markers located on Main Street. 

Some interesting facts from Telluride's history:

Outlaw Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch began their brazen careers in robbing banks at the San Miguel National Bank in downtown Telluride in 1889. They stole $24,000 in mining payroll from the bank.

In 1891, entrepreneurs LL Nunn and; George Westinghouse worked together using Nikola Tesla's discovery of alternating current to run almost 2.5 miles of power line from a hydroelectric plant in Ames to the Gold King Mine. Eventually, those lines would be brought into the town and Telluride would become the first town in the country to be powered with alternating current electric power!
Due to its significant role in the history of the American West, Telluride was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1964.

The historic downtown of Telluride is full of places to eat and shop and magnificent scenery, but most of the ski resorts, luxury hotels and restaurants, modern sprawling condominium complexes, and million-dollar homes are in the adjacent Mountain Village, which rises above Telluride to the southwest at an elevation of almost 10,000 feet.

There is a 13-minute long gondola ride that takes visitors up to Mountain Village. It gave us glorious views of the downtown and 365-degree views of the San Juan Mountains.  It is often referred to by locals as "the best commute in the country!" Come back to see my next blog post where I will take you along for the ride!

Beautiful Telluride!  

I was excited to visit this historic and scenic town and I hope to return again many times in the future.  Come back soon to take the gondola ride up the mountains to the ski resorts in my next post!

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