Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TRINIDAD
POP 9125 / ELEV 6025FT
Tucked into a chimney-top mesa, quiet Trinidad sits on the Purgatoire River, which flows
down from the heights of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Spanish Peaks in the
west. The town's past - from its origins as a Spanish outpost and Santa Fe Trail stopover to
its coal-mining period when it played a central role in a groundbreaking labor dispute - is
documented in its museums and on the brick-paved streets.
While the history buffs may want to take their time here, road-trippers will smell adven-
ture on the pine-tinged winds streaming down Rte 12 from Cucharas Pass on the Highway
of Legends, the scenic drive that passes through the Spanish Peaks Wilderness (
Click here
)
.
CH...CH...CH...CHANGES
Before arriving here you'll probably hear that Trinidad is unofficially credited with being the sex-change capital of
the USA. However, you won't find much evidence among the local population. Dr Stanley Biber, who passed away
in 2006, was chiefly responsible for this reputation via his supposedly cash-only practice, which changed the
genders of 4500 people.
Sights & Activities
MUSEUM
Trinidad History Museum
(
www.coloradohistory.org
;
312 E Main St; adult/child $8/3; 9am-4pm Mon-Sat May-Sep)
This is a lot of mu-
seum, a full city block in fact, set smack dab on Main St. There are three sights here: the
adobe Baca House (1870), the French-style Bloom Mansion (1882) and the Santa Fe Trail
museum. Early settlers Felipe and Dolores Baca, who came to Trinidad in the 1860s,
bought the unusual two-story Baca House for 22,000 pounds of wool in 1873. Entry is by
tour only (open 10am to 3pm).
Next door is the Bloom Mansion, a symmetrical brick building with French eaves and
moldings on the exterior and wrought iron on the roof and terraces.
But the real prize here is the Santa Fe Trail museum, set in the Baca's workers cottage.
Displays trace the course of early Trinidad - an interesting mix of Mexicans and settlers
from as far off as Nova Scotia - through its heyday during the Santa Fe Trail peak and on
to its transformation as a railroad and mining town.
