Mark Barnhouse’s Colorado favorites: Four history-rich location recommendations

June 13, 2024

Note: Direct quotes were edited for typos, to observe AP style guidelines and to fit the listicle structure.

Those who have a passion for history and want to have new Colorado experiences might find what they are looking for in local author Mark Barnhouse’s suggestions.

In an email interview, Barnhouse shared four of his favorite places to visit and things to do in the state, along with some of the history behind them.

1.      Central City Opera

Barnhouse is a long-time supporter of Central City Opera, a company that mainly performs opera at a professional level throughout the city. He appreciates CCO’s history of inclusivity, performance quality, hospitality and the overall experience they create for their audiences.

“A friend introduced me to CCO almost three decades ago, and I’ve tried to go every summer since then because the experience is magical. While ‘opera’ sounds like it’s for high society members, the Central City Opera House was built in 1878 by the miners who lived in Central City, and it was for everyone (although to be fair, CCO’s biggest financial supporters tend to be Denver’s wealthy). The opera house, unlike the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, is intimate, only about 500 seats; the acoustics are superb, and the quality of the productions is always high, with professional singers and young singers in the CCO’s highly regarded training program accompanied by an orchestra with about 35-40 musicians. As America’s fifth-oldest opera company, a visit to a CCO production includes a lot of traditions: ‘Opera Notes’ before the performances, with the assistant director talking to audience members about the show, the composer, etc.; ‘Après Opera’ on select Saturday nights after the evening performance, with the training artists performing for the artistic director in the Teller House bar next door (that’s the bar with the famous ‘Face on the Barroom Floor’), free for anyone to attend; even the ushers have a song they sing outside the opera house before they open the doors.”

2.      Leadville

For Barnhouse, this Colorado city’s appeal lies in its mining history and 1800s architecture.

“This two-mile-high city is still mostly filled with 19th-century buildings — it’s easy to imagine the days when Leadville was the epicenter of Colorado’s economy, millions of dollars coming out of its mines in the late 1870s, booming until 1893, when the U.S. government stopped using silver as currency and stopped buying it. The mines above the town, including the famous Matchless [Mine], where Baby Doe Tabor froze to death; the commercial buildings along Harrison Avenue; the interesting museums (Healy House [Museum], several others) and historic Evergreen Cemetery, where last year a monument to its many Irish miner burials was completed, partly funded by the Government of Ireland. It’s a magical town.”

3.      Denver’s historic cemeteries

Barnhouse’s soon-to-be-released book, “Denver’s Historic Cemeteries,” will include information on the history and formation of each cemetery mentioned. While he appreciates these aspects of Denver’s cemeteries, Barnhouse also likes that they have their own visual and atmospheric charm.

“Yes, I’m co-writing a book on this topic, but I loved these places long before I had the idea for it. They all have different personalities. Riverside, the oldest (1876), has no water, so its landscaping has largely disappeared, but there’s still a lot of romance to the place. Fairmount, the most prestigious, is home to hundreds of figures from Colorado history, particularly along ‘Millionaire’s Row,’ and the stained-glass windows in the Fairmount Mausoleum are extraordinary. I love Mount Olivet too, even though I’m not Catholic it’s beautiful, with the foothills nearby, and this place has a lot of famous names too, if not as many as Fairmount or Riverside. Fort Logan was only founded in 1950, but I love the rigid geometry of its white military markers marching up and down the slopes. Even Crown Hill, with its Tower of Memories, has its charms. Littleton Cemetery is tranquil, landscaped with spruce trees [and] home to Alfred Packer.” 

4.      LoDo (Lower Downtown Denver)

Barnhouse feels very connected to Lower Downtown Denver, especially because he worked in that part of the city for four years. He is fascinated with its look, atmosphere and how it has changed over time.

“In 1987, Denver’s city council voted to create a historic landmark district, covering most of the buildings in Lower Downtown (the ‘LoDo’ shorthand was coined by Denver Post columnist Dick Kreck sometime in the 1980s), even though some property owners opposed it because they thought their property values would be hurt. How wrong they were! To me, it’s the most human-scaled part of downtown Denver; most of the buildings [are] only about six stories high and made of Colorado brick. It’s cohesive; infill buildings built since the historic designation have all been made to conform to design standards meant to keep the neighborhood feeling the same. It’s the part of downtown that has the most people on the sidewalks; it’s the part with the most interesting shops (Rockmount Ranch Wear, for example). I used to work in LoDo (Tattered Cover, 1996-2000), and I’ve loved watching its evolution.”