Rock Ledge Ranch

You have questions and we have answers! Listed below are a series of common questions that we get here at Rock Ledge. If there are any that we missed please add them in the comments below!

Q: When are the buildings open?

A: Wednesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 1pm-5pm, from June 3rd-August 15, and other special events throughout the year.

Q: Is it good for kids?

A: The Ranch is great for kids! All the historical interpreters are trained to help make history accessible and engaging for all ages, and there are historic crafts and games throughout that they can try. Younger children enjoy seeing the barnyard animals and watching wildlife around the pond. There is also a weekly preschool story time called Barnyard Buddies that meets every Thursday at 10:30am in the Barn.

Q: Is it wheelchair accessible?

A: Parts of the historic buildings/sites around the Ranch are wheelchair accessible. The Carriage House has ADA accessible bathrooms. We have an interactive kiosk available in the Carriage House that features pictures and videos from all the floors of the historic homes. The trails at Rock Ledge Ranch are either paved or gravel and are almost entirely flat.

Q: Can I bring my dog?

A: Dogs must be on leash at Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site. Pets are not allowed inside the historic buildings.

Q: Can I ride/pet/feed the animals?

A: No, for your own safety and the safety of our animals, please leave all care and feeding to our trained staff.

Q: How long will it take?

A: We usually advise people to plan for 2 hours to see everything, but some spend much more time or move more quickly!

Q: Is there food available for purchase?

A: The general store has candy, soda, popcorn, water, and some other snacks for sale.

Q: Can I bring a picnic?

A: Yes! The Ranch has many picnic tables and other areas where you can enjoy a picnic. Please make sure you dispose of all your trash inside a trash can, and do not feed any animals, domestic or wild.

Rock Ledge Ranch is proud to share the artwork of Daniel Christie in the Red Rocks Room of the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center. Daniel captures the daily play and work of the Ranch one brush stroke at a time. Painting the Ranch in moments of free time, Daniel eventually started to volunteer and now works as our office administrator with plenty of opportunities to find new inspiration for paintings throughout the day.

You can see some of these moments yourself during living history where our buildings are open and operated just as they would have been during the appropriate time period.

Daniel's art will be featured all of June and July in the Red Rocks Room of the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, so make sure to stop by and see his amazing work in person on your visit to the Garden of the Gods.

This weekend we celebrated the age-old tradition of sheep shearing and wool working at our Wool and Fiber Arts day! A big thank you to everyone who came down to Rock Ledge Ranch for this special day, along with all the partners and volunteers that made this event possible.

Our next special event will be Family Fourth on Saturday July 4th from 10am-4pm. Come on down for all sorts of merriment and festivities as we celebrate the Nations’ 250th birthday!

Rock Ledge Ranch is open dawn till dusk every day with our buildings open from 10am-5pm Wednesday-Saturday and Sunday 1pm-5pm all summer long.

Photos by Ron Graham-Becker

Living history is back at Rock Ledge Ranch!

Today kicks off our summer living history program which runs Wednesdays-Saturdays from 10am-5pm and Sundays from 1pm-5pm.

Take a trip back in time and discover the similarities and differences between our lives and the lives of the people that lived here before us. Explore our historic homes, play a game of graces and immerse yourself in a different time at Rock Ledge Ranch!

Summer is just around the corner and we can’t wait!

This week our seasonal staff was trained on everything from archaeology to zoology and everything in between!

We toured each of our unique homes and sites and learned a little something - even for returning staff.

Summer living history starts next Wednesday (June 3rd!) and all of our buildings will be open for your enjoyment! We have two original houses, the Orchard and Rock Ledge house, along with our homestead cabin, blacksmith shop, garden, and barnyard.

Living history runs the whole summer from Wednesday-Saturdays 10am-5pm and Sundays from 1pm-5pm and does require the purchase of a ticket to enter the buildings.

Rock Ledge Ranch remains open from dusk till dawn everyday as a free city park, only our building tours require purchasing a ticket!

We are so excited to start this fantastic season and we can’t wait to see you at the Ranch!

“All good Americans are looking forward to the passage of the year 1876 with great interest; and it is not to be denied that they are animated by a new hopefulness. The financial failures that occur do not depress the business circles as they once did. There is a belief that we have seen the worst, that it is well that the rotten houses should go down, and that we shall, practically, start, during our Centennial, a new and prosperous national life.”

Centennial celebrations in 1876, during the time the Chambers lived at Rock Ledge Ranch, focused on the past, present, and future of the United States of America. In an article in the January 8, 1876 edition of the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Centennial Commission called the whole country to a project that they argued “may be made one of the most important and enduring features of the Centennial Celebration:”

“It seems proper that the local celebrations of the Fourth of July, 1876, which will be held throughout the land, should be made to contribute to a permanent historical memorial of the Centennial Celebration. In each country provision should be made for the delivery of an address, tracing the history of that particular community for the past century, or from the time of its settlement.”

Other writers early in the year expressed an optimistic hopefulness that the Centennial would bring economic prosperity and national unity. The occasion of the Centennial was bringing new business to America, it was a presidential election year, and the Centennial exposition would bring people from all parts of the nation together. One writer wrote on January 1, 1876: “The nation is to be brought together as it has never been brought before during its history…We are now all members of a consolidated nationality, and this year, around the old family altar at Philadelphia, we expect to meet and embrace as brothers.” People across the nation placed great hope in the Centennial celebrations to unite the country and bring prosperity to all.

Rock Ledge Ranch has a new windmill!

Teams from the Colorado Springs Forestry department along with members of our own staff (and Winston and Victoria, our Shire horses) came together to install our new windmill!

Rock Ledge Ranch has had a historic windmill in the horse pen for about twenty years now. Former Ranch Manager Andy Morris had a well dug and a historic windmill reassembled on site to pump water. Damage through last winter and spring culminated in the windmill being blown to pieces in a terrible windstorm last April. Thankfully, no people or animals were hurt. A father-son duo took on the task of creating a new windmill and last summer they set to work!

Chad and Ian Koldenhoven took to this project with enthusiasm and although it was a larger challenge than they anticipated their ingenuity and perseverance have paid off with this beautiful new installment at the Ranch!

We are grateful to the Koldenhovens for their efforts along with all the other partners that went into making this project possible.

Come on down to Rock Ledge Ranch and see the new windmill in person!

The grounds of Rock Ledge Ranch are open from dawn till dusk year-round and it is a perfect place to take a walk, have a picnic or observe wildlife.