The Estes Park Museum

Rocky Mountain National Park Pictorial History program and book-signing reception with Ken Jessen.  From 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. author Ken Jessen will give a slide presentation based on his new book Rocky Mountain National Park Pictorial History. From 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. there will be a free reception with wine and hors d'oeuvres while the author signs books. All events are free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation and the Town of Estes Park. Copies of the book will be available in the Museum Shop.  Members of the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc. receive a 10% discount on all purchases.  

Postcards from Lodges Past with Bobbie Heisterkamp.  Join us for a look inside the great old lodges in and around Rocky Mountain National Park. While displaying some of her postcard collection, Heisterkamp will discuss the rustic architecture, furnishings and history of these lodges, many of which no longer exist except on old photographs and postcards. This is an encore presentation of the February 16 program and a regular meeting of the Postcard Club.  Free to the public.  Doors open at 1:30 p.m. for the 2:00 p.m. program at the Museum. Sponsored by the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc. and the Estes Park Postcard Club.

Boulder County Ghost Town Tour with Ken Jessen.  The tour begins at 7:30 a.m. and last until approximately 5:30 p.m. Board our 14-passenger van at the Museum and travel back in time to the towns of Salina, Wall Street, Sunset, Mont Alto Park and Gold Hill. We’ll stop for lunch at the general store and visit the Gold Hill Museum. Cost is $18 for Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation members and $22 for non-members. Cost includes transportation; lunch on your own. Call the Museum at 970-586-6256 for reservations. Sponsored by the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc.This tour is currently filled.  Please call 970-586-6256 to join the waiting list. 

Capt. Jepp and the Little Black Book with co-authors Flint Whitlock and Terry Barnhart. Aviation pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, John Glenn and Chuck Yeager are well known among the general public, but the name Elrey Jeppesen, also known as "Capt. Jepp" is familiar only to those in the aviation community. Capt. Jepp's claim to fame is the system of aerial navigation he devised. Join Flint Whitlock and Terry Barnhart as they tell the story of this man who began flying in the Roaring '20s. Free, 7:00 p.m. at the Museum.  Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Co-sponsored by the Estes Park Public Library Foundation and the Estes Park Museum, and funded by the Xcel Energy Foundation.

The     Cheley Camp Tour. Estes Park was a sleepy mountain town in 1921 when Frank Cheley founded Cheley Colorado Camps as the Bear Lake Trail School at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. By 1927, the camp outgrew the available space and the Cheley Colorado Camps moved to its present location off of Fish Creek Road, where it hosts more than 1,000 campers annually. Join us for a tour of the historic Cheley Colorado Camp from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This program is free for members of the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc.and $5 for non-members. Reservations are required and can be made after August 1 by calling 970-586-6256.

Rocky Mountain National Park Historic Lodges & Homesteads Tour with Ken Jessen. Board our 14-passenger van and tour the sites of lodges and homesteads from the past in Rocky Mountain National Park. We will begin at the Fall River Inn Site and travel to numerous historic sites including those of the Horseshoe Inn, the Hupp graves and homestead and Sprague’s resort in Moraine Park. The tour begins at 9:00 a.m. and lasts until approximately 1:00 p.m. Cost is $8 for members of the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc. and $10 for non-members. Fees support Museum programs. Tickets available at the Museum beginning August 1. Call 970-586-6256. Sponsored by the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation.

The Playground Trail: To and Through the National Parks of the West.  In 1920, after World War I, Americans set out to explore the country by automobile. The National Park Service, established in 1916, opened several national parks. Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, envisioned a continuous paved highway connecting National Parks and opening the West to automobiles. A slogan of the National Park-to-Park Highway Association raised the question “You sing ‘America,’ why not see it?” On Friday, October 3, the Estes Park Museum will welcome authors Lee and Jane Whiteley to bring life to the history of the highway with a slide-illustrated program based on their book The Playground Trail.  Emphasis will be given to the first leg of the 1920 Park-to-Park Dedication Tour which began in Denver and passed through Lyons en route to Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The Whiteleys also authored The Yellowstone Trail and an upcoming book on early US Highway 40 from Kansas City to Denver. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. program. Free to the public and sponsored by the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc.

Larimer County's Reborn Landmarks.  Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel and the Estes Park Museum invite you to a magic lantern show at 2:00 pm at the Museum. Dr. Noel is a professor of history  and director of public history, preservation and Colorado studies at CU-Denver. He is the author of 37 books including Fort Collins and Larimer County: An Illustrated History  and Colorado: A Liquid History & Tavern Guide. Tom appears now and then as Dr. Colorado in the Sunday Denver Post and on Channel 9's Colorado & Company. Doors open at 1:30.  Free to the public and sponsored by the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc.

Collection and Care of Old Coins with Bob Fixter will include samples of coins and other currency that tell stories of our history.  Fixter and his wife Carole are owners of Fall River Antiques, Jewelry and Coins in Estes Park.  Doors open at 1:30 p.m. for the 2:00 p.m. program.  Free to the public and sponsored by the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc.