By Jim Winnerman
Odd and Unusual Sites in Colorado
Interested in injecting some unusual fun and unexpected memories into a Colorado summer? Memories that will last a lifetime and may even become a highlight of a day spent exploring the Centennial State?
Just stop by some of the lesser-known, offbeat attractions in our state. For example, you may enjoy swinging in to the washing machine museum in Eaton up in northeastern Colorado. Or you might stop by the UFO watchtower outside of Hooper in the San Luis Valley for a different kind of experience. There are museums featuring a prison, rows and rows of saddles, clowns of all kinds, keys of all kinds and more.
Admission to these out-of-the-ordinary attractions is usually nominal, and frequently free. It is almost certain there will not be a crowd, and whoever is in charge will be happy to spend as much time with you as you like. If the person happens to be the obsessed founder, they will likely be as interesting as the attraction and have a self-deprecating sense of humor about their hobby.
Just remember to check the hours each attraction is open. Most have normal schedules, but some are only open weekends or seasonally. Many will open just for you if you call ahead to schedule a visit.
It’s summer. Get out there and enjoy some of the off-the-beaten-path attractions you’ll find just off Colorado’s byways.
Lee Maxwell Washing Machine Museum – Eaton
Today he has 1,400 vintage washers in his home “laundromat,” a, 20,000-square-foot building on his farm. It is also the Lee Maxwell Washing Machine Museum, and the thought of stopping at 500 machines has long passed.
One of Maxwell’s more peculiar machines is designed to be powered by a goat on a treadmill. Another, perhaps an early forerunner to the totally automated home, washes clothes, churns butter and grinds meat.
Manufactured by companies ranging from Acme to Zenith, washing machines were produced by more than 1,000 firms by the early 1900s when their popularity surged. But, they were working machines and few people collect the household necessity. Maxwell says he knows of two museums that have collections of less then 50 each.
Maxwell, an avid traveler, says his collection also includes machines from every state as well as others he has found throughout the world and had shipped back to Colorado.
Along the way Maxwell has “cleaned up” in the record books. In 2000, he was recognized as having the world’s largest washing machine collection and was awarded the Guinness World Record, which he still holds. He has also become America’s foremost expert on vintage washing machines, even writing a book on the history of the appliance.
Maxwell, who says he has “never spent a penny on advertising,” maintains a website that features more than 3,000 washing machine photographs and magazine ads, a patents archive, and a library of maintenance and operator manuals.
Admission: $3 by appointment
35901 WCR 31 Eaton, Colorado 80615
970-454-1856, oldewash.com
UFO Watchtower – Hooper
“I’d never seen one myself,” she recalls, “but I built it for fun and as a little ‘mom and pop’ tourist attraction.”
As soon as the tower was completed the sightings began. Today there have been 67 sightings reported by visitors to the tower. Messoline herself has been there for 26 of the sightings, which have included lights that speed across the sky and then instantaneously reverse course, to lights that simply streak across the sky in sporadic starts and stops.
“We had 12 people on the tower one night and all witnessed a cigar shaped object move back and forth across the sky,” Messoline reports. “The next day someone down the valley called and asked if we had seen it. It is always nice to have other witnesses so we can be sure we are not crazy.”
Most visitors come during the day. “There is not a speck of light pollution at night, and that intimidates most people,” she says, adding that the tower is open 24 hours a day.
Messoline, who has the keen sense of humor needed to confront any skeptics, laughingly says to her knowledge she has never been abducted by aliens. Then she adds: “I’m not opposed to it! I’m game! Let’s go!”
Admission: $2 per person or $5 a car.
Located 2¹/² miles north of Hooper on HWY 17
719-378-2296, ufowatchtower.com
Museum of Colorado Prisons – Cañon City
Arriving at the entrance of this prison built in 1935, visitors see a tall guard tower manned every hour of every day. The tower sits above a wall the museum shares with an actual modern prison, the Colorado Men’s Territorial Correctional Facility where more than 900 inmates are incarcerated. Announcements made over a loud speaker such as “return to your cells” are clearly audible and not a soundtrack from an exhibit, says museum spokesperson Stacey Kline. “It’s the real thing.”
Exhibits in the museum come from throughout the Colorado prison system, as well as from prisoners themselves. “Sometimes an ex-inmate from the men’s prison will stop in and donate something they think might be of interest,” Kline says.
The museum website states visitors can “feel the chills” emanating from the cells they tour, and the warning comes with some evidence. Kline says paranormal groups frequently stay overnight in the museum, and invariably report the presence of female spirits hanging around.
The website also advises that one purpose of the museum is to “serve as a reminder to the public that crime has a consequence,” and that “exhibits of prison artifacts and living history interpretation to teach prison history, may deter criminal behavior, as well as preserve a very important aspect of Colorado’s history.”
Exhibits that accomplish that objective include a gas chamber last used in 1967. Eight men have died in that room. There is also a hangman’s noose used for the last legal hanging in the state in 1933.
Admission: $7 adults, $5 children 5-12
201 N. 1st Street Cañon City, CO
719 269-3015 or 877-269-3015, prisonmuseum.org
Bailey Saddleland Museum – Simla
“We were quite poor and our family only had two saddles, so I would sniff around in the tack rooms of my parent’s friends,” he says. “Today I own many of those saddles and know their history.”
Bailey’s collection, which he feels is one of the top three in the nation, numbers 350 saddles. Many date to the period between 1880 and 1920 when he says Colorado was the “saddle capital of the world.”
Three saddles date to the 1860s and at least 25 were made in the 1880s. Many were made by some of the most famous saddle makers in the United States. One has bullet holes through the back, but Bailey does not know how they got there. Another saddle was made to be the largest in the world. The saddle swell (the area in front of a rider’s knees,) measures 36 inches instead of the more normal 12-inch width. “It looks like a longhorn steer coming at you,” he says.
As Bailey’s collection has grown and his interest in saddles has become known, he is offered saddles all the time and is constantly buying more.
“People know there is some foolish guy out there who may actually buy something,” he says.
Housed in a museum on his ranch, the collection is a result of family genetics, and his museum is proof he inherited the collection gene. The saddle collection is augmented by collections of buggies, wagons, and other tack such as bits, bridles and spurs, as well as antique cars and signs. The museum also houses a recreated saddle shop, an old post office and an old bunkhouse.
With his museum located far from the city lights, Bailey says he enjoys having visitors. “I might even pay people to come,” he says laughing.
No admission charge
Open Memorial Day-Labor Day Sat. & Sun. 2-6 pm or by appointment
20140 County Rd. 125, Simla, CO 80835
719-541-2736 or 719-740-0658, ourjourney.info
Grandpa Jerry’s Clown Museum – ArribaSubmit
Today the museum’s collection numbers over 3,000 clown related items, and has been referred to as likely being the preeminent museum of clown memorabilia in the world. Housed in a small, pink-trimmed building, the collection covers the walls and much of the ceiling, along with several floor-to-ceiling display shelves. Included are themed collections of clown music boxes, clown cookie jars, clown banks, clown tea sets, clown whiskey decanters, coffee cups, paintings and more.
“Jerry was never a trained as a clown,” Amen says. “Once in a while he would put on a red nose for children but that is about all. Normally he was just a goof, though.”
No admission fee; donations accepted
Open Memorial Day-Labor Day or by appointment; Call ahead
22 Lincoln Avenue Arriba, CO 80804
719-768-3257 or 719-740-6195, ourjourney.info
Petrified wood building – Lamar
No admission fee
501 North Main Street Lamar, CO 81052
roadsideamerica.com/story/2051
Baldpate Inn – Estes Park
The tradition continued until World War I, when metal became sparse and expensive. Loyal guests, who returned each year, were so disappointed that the key tradition had to be dropped that they began their own tradition of leaving their personal keys or sending a key after they returned home.
The competition for the most exotic or intricate key became such that the inn owners decided to display the keys that guests were leaving with the inn. Now more than 20,000 keys hang from the rafters grouped by state and other similarities. More are added every week.
Many are displayed in cases and hung on the walls and ceiling of the Key Room, a large lounge off the lobby. Each has a tag that lists the date and information about the key’s origin. Several have historical significance, and many are exceptionally ornate.
The Baldpate Inn is open from Memorial Day until mid-October each year.
No admission fee; Memorial Day to mid-October
4900 State Highway 7
970-586-6151, baldpateinn.com
The Wonder – Tower Genoa
Dating to 1926, the 60-foot Wonder Tower and the collection of low-slung buildings beneath it were originally a motel, restaurant, and gas station. Today the space has become a flea market of sorts spread over 20 rooms and ceilings containing 20,000 Indian arrowheads, fossils, a wide array of bottles and insulators, farm implements and other antiques, all of which are for sale.
Owner Jerry Chubbuck greets anyone who stops at the door and asks for a dollar admission. However visitors need not pay if they can identify several bizarre items Chubbuck thrusts in their face. His well-practiced repartee and obvious delight in stumping visitors is worth much more.
Once inside Chubbuck delights in pointing out a 12-foot mastodon tusk he discovered.
“The tip was showing. I thought it was a piece of petrified wood,” Chubbuck recalls. Also on display are the remains of more than 200 buffalo with the arrowheads still embedded in the bones and tools to slaughter the beasts scattered about. Chubbuck discovered those as well.
There are also assorted oddities such as two-headed calves and eight-legged pigs. Lining the walls are many items of genuine historical interest, including old guns, antique furniture, and many Indian artifacts, all of which are for sale.
For a view of six states visitors must climb the steep stairs inside the tower to see Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico and South Dakota.
$1 admission charge; open by chance or appointment
I-70 Exit 371 30121 Frontage Rd Genoa, CO 80818
719-763-2309, ourjourney.info
The May Natural History Museum (The Bug Museum) – Colorado Springs
Assembled by a family that traveled and worked throughout the world starting in the late 1800s, the remarkable collection includes an insect from New Guinea that is 17 inches long and looks so much like a bundle of sticks that it is invisible unless it moves, and a 9-inch scorpion from African Congo. Other unusual creatures include the world’s largest purple tarantulas that catch and kill mice and small birds, and Colombian beetles so large that they can knock a person down if they fly into them.
A giant replica of the Hercules beetle of the West Indies marks the turnoff to the Museum.
Admission: Adults $6, children 6-12 $3
Open May-October, and in winter for groups
710 Rock Creek Canyon Rd. Colorado Springs, CO 80926
719–576-0450 or 800-666-3841, roadsideamerica.com
Cano’s Castle – Antonito
The “castle” is built of scrap aluminum, which adds glitter in the sunlight, accompanied by countless beer cans and bicycle reflectors that are attached to the structure in repeating patterns. Other components such as hubcaps, grills, screen doors and window casements are not hard to discern.
No tours or admission fee, but easily seen from the street
On State Street between 5th and 8th streets in Antonito, Colorado
atlasobscura.com
Devil’s Causeway – Yampa
Sometime all that is needed for a sense of adventure is to walk in a straight line. The Devil’s Causeway, one of the most intriguing geologic structures in Colorado, is such a place. At 11,800 feet, the walk out onto the 50-foot long formation leads over a rocky outcropping of basaltic rock only 4 feet wide, with sheer drops of several hundred feet on either side.
For those who turn back, the hike up to see the Causeway is 6 miles round trip. For the few that make it to the other side, usually in a crawl, a return crossing can be avoided by hiking a loop trail that totals 10 miles.
No admission fee
Take County Road 7 south for 6 miles. Continue 9 miles on Forest Service Road 900 to the parking area on the north side of Stillwater Reservoir. Take East Fork Trail, No. 1119 to the Causeway.
colorado.com
Get Out and Explore
These are just a few of the interesting and unusual places to visit on the eastern side of Colorado. But the Centennial State has much more to offer.