NEWS RELEASE
Media Contact: Paula Manini, Museum Director
719/846-7217, paula.manini@chs.state.co.us
History Colorado’s Trinidad History Museum opens May 1
Trinidad, Colo. (April 29) — History Colorado’s Trinidad History Museum opens for the season on May 1 and will be open Monday–Saturday through September 30 (closed on Sunday and state holidays). The museum complex, located at 312 East Main Street, Trinidad, Colo., contains several attractions on one block: The Baca House, Bloom Mansion, and Santa Fe Trail Museum.
The three sites open at 10 a.m.; the last tour of the day departs at 4 p.m. There are guided tours of the two houses and self-guided tours of the Santa Fe Trail Museum.
The Baca House and Santa Fe Trail Museum were constructed in the 1870s. Trail entrepreneur John Hough and his wife Mary traded the unusual adobe house to Felipe and Dolores Baca for 22,000 pounds of wool. Workers lived in the building that his now home to the Santa Fe Trail Museum.
Baca-BloomHeritageGardensat theTrinidadHistoryMuseum.
The Bloom Mansion, built in 1882, is the Victorian home of Frank and Sarah Bloom. They chose to build their house in a French style architecture called Second Empire. Their personal empire was built on banking and cattle ranching.
The buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places and the Baca House and Santa Fe Trail Museum are official sites on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. They are located in Trinidad’s acclaimed national historic district.
Surrounding the landmark buildings are the Baca-Bloom Heritage Gardens, which are open 9 a.m.– 4 p.m. for free self-guided tours. The gardens feature heirloom Hispanic, Pueblo, and Victorian plants as well as native plants and grasses. This summer a colorful Butterfly Garden and French herbs and vegetables will also adorn the Bloom property.
Details will soon be announced about summer activities for children, including “Be a Garden Spy,” “Scooby-Doo History Detectives,” “French Art and Culture,” and “Movie Nights at the Museum.”
For adults and families, the museum will host programs about the Bloom Gardens, World War II, and French cooking. These diverse topics are inspired by Dr. James Grafton Rogers, the man who led efforts to beautify the Bloom property in the 1960s. During World War II, he worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the spy agency that was the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Intelligence reports indicate that another OSS staff member, Julia Child, will make a special appearance at the museum to talk about French cooking!
The museum’s other attractions include a bookstore that specializes in local history books, garden gifts, and souvenirs. The adjacent Trinidad and State Byways Center has information about Trinidad and nearby communities, Colorado’s Scenic and Historic Byways, Santa Fe Trail sites in five states, and other History Colorado museums and programs. The bookstore and information center are open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m
For more information contact Museum Director Paula Manini at 719-846-7217.
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History Colorado
History Colorado is the public programs, services and 12 statewide museums and historic sites of the Colorado Historical Society. The Colorado Historical Society was established in 1879 and is headquartered at the Colorado History Museum in Denver. The Colorado Historical Society aspires to engage people in our State’s heritage through collecting, preserving, and discovering the past in order to educate and provide perspectives for the future. In addition to History Colorado, this educational institution contains the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, the Stephen H. Hart Research Library, and administers the State Historical Fund—a preservation-based grants program funded by limited stakes gaming tax revenues. For more information visit www.coloradohistory.org or call (303) 866-3682.