South Park City Museum — Attraction in Fairplay

We were staying in Breckinridge and a friend recommended that we visit South Park City. We drove down CO-9 and stopped at Hoosier Pass which is on the way. We did a hike at Hoosier Pass which was quite scenic.

The South Park City was very impressive. The way the buildings were all built differently and original. Each building were full of artifacts and well displayed. The different trades and tools that were displayed were amazing. Everyone found something interesting in each building. Plus we had fun guessing what were some of the tools and how they were used. Most things were labeled but some tools weren’t. Although we had fun guessing, I still would like to know what some of the tools/machines were used for. It would be fun to guess and then lift a cover off a sign to see if you were right!

I enjoyed reading some of the newspaper articles that were posted on the walls. One had a column of where and when some of the residents were traveling. Like one person was going to Denver. And this made front page news!

It is well worth a visit. It is only $12 for adults and $6 for children (6-12).

We were there for about an hour. We went to lunch and came back and were there an hour and a half. You could easily spend more time there.

There are no docents in the buildings, if there were you would be spending a day there.

The views around the area are...

The South Park City Museum in Fairplay, CO is a somewhat unknown gem, and not just for those visiting Park County, but for anyone visiting Colorado! Make your trip complete by driving out to Fairplay (it's just 2 hours of spectacular scenery on your drive from Denver) to visit this museum. If you're the kind of person that says "ANOTHER museum?" I get it, and THIS one is NOT that kind of museum! This special place makes you feel as though you have gone back in time to the 1880's, when the West was full of Indians, gold prospectors, blacksmiths, gun slingers, and huge herds of buffalo. Made up of 44 historic buildings (most were moved from nearby abandoned mining towns, but a few of them are still on their original foundation) this outdoor and pet friendly museum walks you through life in a mining town. You will see a a bank, a saloon, a barber shop, a drug store, several homes, the blacksmith shop, the dentist office, etc. all decorated with period antiques that applied to each of those professions at that time. It's a fascinating place that both kids and adults enjoy equally! Note: It is open daily May 15th through October 15th each year, because most people don't want to visit an outdoor museum in the winter! Too...

STOP HERE! You’ll walk through the museum to find yourself in history! All ages will delight in exploring the old buildings filled with real-time artifacts of the past, and feel like you’re really a miner, blacksmith, fur trader, rancher, worshipper, rail road worker, and the list goes on and on. Stop by the shop on your way out.

My daughter, 12, and I loved our visit to South Park!! You will too!!

I’m in a power wheelchair so I want to say a few words regarding accessibility. Admission was free for me because they know it’s not fully accessible. My expectations are quite low at such historical places, because there must be a reasonable balance between our reality nowadays and keeping tue to historical buildings. I could access appropriately half of the buildings. I recognized a conscious effort by the museum to make things accessible! I also recognized some places where it wouldn’t take much of a ramp or threshold ramp to make It accessible. When I say accessible, I’m not referring to ADA compliance! Just enough to access from my...