The Telluride Historical Museum will be closing for the fall off-season on Oct. 20, 2024 and reopening for the winter on Dec. 3, 2024. It’s been a great season, and we thank you for your curiosity, support, and love for history!

Cruise into History: Historic Ophir Town with John Wontrobski, Town Manager of Ophir

Saturday, August 10, 2024, 9am

Meet at the Telluride Historical Museum at 9am or the Ophir Town Hall at 9:20am

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Join the Telluride Museum and John Wontrobski, Town Manager of Ophir, for a drive and walk through Ophir history. Ophir’s small-town, quirky personality has evolved throughout the decades and is an essential part of San Miguel county history. As our most moderate level “hike” this year, the tour will involve a combination of driving through Old and East Ophir, visiting historic buildings and sites, and a short hike towards National Forest Service boundaries. Preregistration is strongly encouraged. The tour leaves from the museum at 9am and lasts approximately 4 hours. A vehicle is required and carpooling is encouraged. With advance notice there may be options to carpool with museum staff. Participants can plan to meet at the Telluride Museum at 9am or the Ophir Town Hall at 9:20am. Pack lunch, snacks, water, sunscreen, and weather-appropriate gear.

$20 for nonmembers or $15 for museum members.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

(June 24, 2024) – San Miguel County, CO — It’s no secret that San Miguel County has a rich history. Beginning with its earliest Native American inhabitants through today, there’s a story to be told on every corner, across every vista, and along every trail. Last week, members of the San Miguel County Parks & Open Space Department and the County Historical Commission completed a long-envisioned interpretive sign installation at the observation deck in Ilium Valley, and at the Keystone Gorge Loop Trail, which follows the San Miguel River as it plunges downstream west of Telluride.

“It was great to see these beautiful and detailed historic interpretive panels come to fruition and be installed,” said Janet Kask, Director, Parks & Open Space. “This has been a passion project for the County’s Historical Commission and credit goes to Kiernan Lannon, a member of the Historical Commission and Executive Director of the Telluride Historical Museum; along with Molly Daniel, Curator of Collections and Exhibits for the Telluride Historical Museum; and Ted Wilson, Chair of the Historical Commission for the research, preparation, layout and design of these panels. It was a very detailed project and huge undertaking.”

The Ilium Observation Deck is situated near the location of the former Rio Grande Southern Railroad wye bridge where it once crossed the south fork of the San Miguel River in Ilium Valley. The deck, which is partially built from historic timbers, steel rails and other materials from the bridge (it was dismantled in 2015), is perfectly located at a confluence of popular hikes and bikes, including the Galloping Goose Trail, Local’s Loop and the Wilson Mesa Trail. Now a recreational amenity, the area was once the turnaround point, or wye, for the train, where it could turn to make the run up to the town of Telluride. Also in that area, a hydroelectric power plant once operated, part of the Telluride Power Company’s grid, along with the Ames Power Plant, which is six miles upstream at the Lake and Howard Forks of the San Miguel River. The Ilium plant was built in 1900 by L.L. Nunn, whose entrepreneurial stamp remains on much of Telluride’s history. The deck’s new historic interpretive panels, designed and written in partnership with the Telluride Historical Museum, tell the story of Nunn’s Telluride Power Company and offer more insight on the activities of the Rio Grande Southern in Ilium.

“The Telluride Historical Museum was thrilled to play a role in creating these interpretive panels. These aren’t necessarily the best-known stories in the County’s history, but they are very fascinating and will help allow the public to gain a better and fuller understanding of what makes the County’s past so unique” said Kiernan Lannon, a member of the Historical Commission and Executive Director of the Telluride Historical Museum.

The Keystone Gorge Loop Trail’s historic past has also been given voice by the installation of panels at the trail’s lower bridge. Those signs explain the gorge’s role in hydraulic placer mining for more than 20 years, an intensive practice that scoured the hillsides with high pressure water shot from cannon-like implements called monitors. The trail’s breathtaking beauty takes on new wonder with the revelation of the rugged will of those seeking riches from the cliffsides.

“The Keystone placer mine played a large role in Telluride’s mining history, and its story is a dramatic and destructive one,” said Ted Wilson, Chair of the Historical Commission. “We’re excited to bring back this somewhat forgotten history with incredible historic photos, detailed facts, and a glimpse into the intense stories that unfolded in the gorge.”

Summer visitors can soon immerse themselves in Telluride’s past at the Telluride Historical Museum (THM). The Museum will reopen for normal summer operation on June 3rd and will be open Monday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (with free admission on Saturdays for locals.) Historical walking tours, led by local guide Ashley Boling, will be available twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1PM beginning June 4th. Along with these walking tours the museum has several “Hike into History” events planned including; a basic wilderness response route, a look into Ophir Town history, and a behind the scenes tour of local trails with Telluride Mountain Club.

THM is excited to present their newest annual exhibit “You Are Here: Opportunity, Exploration, and Endurance in the San Juan Mountains.” Featuring an array of incredible, rare, historic maps, this new display explores how the American Southwest came to be navigated, understood, and exploited. These maps tell the story of the various groups who left their mark on this landscape, and how, in turn, the landscape shaped people’s experiences and helped chart the course that led us to where we are today.

Have you ever considered the many names and identities of where you live or the places you visit? The wilderness that the native Utes call the “Shining Mountains” has undergone profound changes over the past 500 years. Maps have long served as a way to document the history of human society by representing the world as we perceive it. Beyond providing a sense of place or direction, maps are a form of communication. They can claim territory, plot a journey, or describe the land, its resources, and inhabitants. In short, all maps have a story to tell.

Molly Daniel, Curator of Collections and Exhibits, points out that; “The thirteen rare maps featured in this exhibit are equally beautiful works of art and fascinating historical artifacts. To experience them all together, up close and personal, is almost like taking a time machine through the San Juan Mountains over the past 500 years. Maps can reveal so much about our evolving understanding of geography, history, politics, nature, and art, so they’re really a perfect primary source to learn about and contextualize this place where we live, work, and play.”

“You Are Here: Opportunity, Exploration, and Endurance in the San Juan Mountains” will open to the public with a free opening reception on June 6th, 2024 at 6pm. Refreshments will be provided and all are welcome to come celebrate the new exhibit.

The exhibit will be on display at the THM from June 6th, 2024, through the close of the 2025 winter season (early April 2025).

Thank you for a great Winter Season! We are now closed for the off-season, and will be reopening for the summer on June 3, 2024. See you then!

For inquiries, please reach out to theresa@telluridemuseum.org.