Redstone, Colorado

We choose Redstone, Colorado for our 25th anniversary because it was easy to get to, in an interesting looking area of Colorado, and we hadn't stayed there before. To be honest the trip to Hawaii at the beginning of the year was in honor of our 25th. But spoiled brat that I can be, I still wanted to do something on our anniversary. I am really not planning on another 25th.

Since our anniversary was on a Wednesday this year, something nearby was called. This way we could drive over Wednesday evening for a couple of days.
Little did we know that Redstone had some interesting history. Turns out it was a social experiment. The coal mine owner thought it would be best if his workers had decent places to live, some medical attention, and a school for their children. He built cottages for the workers with families and the Redstone Inn for the bachelors and guests. A church and school were also built. For miners this was pretty upscale for the time. Usually, miners lived in shacks or whatever they could cobble together.

The mine was closed in the mid 1900's. Then it was reopened and caught fire which caused it to close permanently. Sounds like this is pretty common with metallurgic grade coal.

Not everything was wonderful. The coke ovens were across the road from the cottages and the inn. I would imagine snow didn't stay white for long near that. It still sounds very progressive for the early 1900's.

Historians are a bit disappointed because the third wife burned all of the family papers she could lay her hands on. Which leaves us to speculate about why she did that.