Miramont Castle / Manitou Springs Colorado

Photo courtesy C. Petersen

Miramont Castle located in the beautiful Colorado town of Manitou Springs was originally built in 1895 as a private home for Father Jean Baptist Francolon, a French-born Catholic priest. Manitou Springs which is located in the Pikes Peak area of Colorado is just a few miles west of Colorado Springs.

The 14,000 square foot home has a rich history in this old resort town at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The castles architecture is a mixture of several styles including English Tudor and Byzantine. Guided tours are available. Tourists can see its antique-filled grand drawing room, formal dining room, solarium and chapel. It's a very unique tour in a very historic structure. You'll also be able to hear it's century old clock that sounds on the hour.

The Castle has experienced many uses and transformations. It has been used as a private home for a wealthy French priest and his mother to a state of dilapidation. At one time Miramont Castle was used as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. Like many other places in the western U.S., the dry climate of Manitou Springs was thought to be helpful to people with the condition. Santa Fe New Mexico was another destination because of it's climate for people suffering with tuberculosis.

Thanks to the efforts of the Manitou Springs Historical Society the home has now been restored to it's original splendor..The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and is currently operated by the non-profit Manitou Springs Historical Society.

Miramont Castle Today

Today, the Miramont Castle is a museum representing the Victorian era. Each room is an example of life during the era in which Father Francolon built the castle. Rooms are rarely built square in the castle. One room you'll visit has an amazing 16 walls. Don't miss the secret passageway that runs the total length of the second floor. The Miramont Castle was built into the side of a mountain and slopes with it. The front entrance is located on the first floor and the rear entrance is on the fourth floor just outside the interesting gift shop. There is also a chimney from one of the many fireplaces (the largest sandstone fireplace in the US) that passes through the mountain itself.

Pikes Peak, Wikipedia

As you might expect with a large structure this old, there have been many reports of ghost sightings from both visitors and employees of Miramont Castle. Many people have reported the sighting of men, women and children dressed in Victorian era clothing. Some have sighted Victorian dressed women in mirrors they have looked into. Other visitors have sighted a young child holding a doll. Voices have been heard and objects have been reported moved with no explanation how. High Tea is served at the Miramont Castle during the afternoon and some say that this is the time that ghosts and/or odd happenings usually occur. Speaking of High Tea, Miramont Castle does offer homemade scones served with Devonshire cream, infused butters, and preserves. Also an assortment of vegetables, a fruit flute, a variety of Victorian-style sandwiches, and a sampling of many lovely desserts. It's a part of the castle you will want to spend a bit of time at. A reservation is required to attend the teas.


Emma Crawford Coffin Race

In all of Colorado Manitou Springs has one of the most unique festivals in the west.  I heard about an annual event that some might think a bit strange. It certainly sounds like one of a kind. The town hosts an annual event called the Emma Crawford Festival. The festival includes the "Emma Crawford Coffin Race". It seems that in Manitou Springs in the year 1929 the coffin of a young woman buried at the top of Red Mountain in 1891 was uncovered by erosion and then washed down the side of the mountain. The festival is schedules the weekend before Halloween. Part of the festival involves a coffin race and other events, such as ghost walks. It's not everyday you can witness a live coffin race. The evening before the race, Miramont Castle hosts to an annual wake for Emma. It is perhaps fitting that a place that once served as a sanatarium for tuberculosis patients should also hold an annual event in tribute to a young woman who died from the condition.

Pikes Peak Locomotive, circa 1900

The Emma Crawford Wake allows attendees to step back in time to attend a fictitious wake for the deceased. The festival puts on a buffet of Victorian cuisine and costumed actors who portray people of that era. Father Francolon and his mother are portrayed as they host the wake in their home. The wake is not totally accurate on a historical standpoint since the priest came to Manitou Springs months after Emma's death and the castle wasn't constructed until a few years later. However, this event is not about historical accuracy.  It really about reliving the Victorian era and paying tribute to a young lady whose misfortune is the basis for putting on the festival. 

Miramont Castle Artifacts

There are museums within this Miramont Castle museum. The High Country Artists Association and other local artists have established an ongoing and rotating display of their original works which you will find in the Great Hall. Many of their framed paintings are for sale. Another area of the castle includes antique and vintage fire department equipment from the Pikes Peak area. It's most popular exhibit is an antique hose cart, the oldest piece of fire equipment registered with the Colorado State Firefighters Association, owned by the Manitou Springs Volunteer Fire Department since 1880.  Other  authentic memorabilia and photographs of a bygone era surround it.Miramont castle is located at 9 Capitol Hill Avenue.

Photo, courtesy C. Petersen

When you travel to Manitou Springs Colorado you will want to walk through the Cliff House which is a magnificent hotel with a lot of history. The hotel just like Manitou Springs itself had it's start with the gold mining boom in 1850's Colorado. The hotel began as an inn with about a dozen or so rooms. The mining boom of course brought many people to the area and tents had to be erected next to the inn just to accommodate the overflow crowd.

 Eventually the mining boom started to dwindle and the business at the inn declined as well. By the year 1876 the hotel was having a particularly hard time. During the next several years interest in the town’s ancient mineral springs was starting to grow. For most likely a thousand years the water springs had come to the surface from underground limestone aquifers that both carbonated the water and filled it with minerals. The water was cool, good-tasting and had a high concentration of minerals. American Indians had been drinking it straight from the springs for hundreds of years.  The cool and mineral rich water was thought by many including the Native Americans to have healing powers. The mineral water and the Rocky Mountain climate made Manitou Springs quite a popular area.

A man by the name of Edward E. Nichols came to Manitou Springs in the late 1870's to try to treat his tuberculosis as many other people did. Nichols made Manitou Springs his home after he was able to beat the affliction.  He ended up serving as mayor and in 1886 purchased the hotel which he renamed the Cliff House. He invested heavily in the hotel and made it into a sophisticated resort which drew thousands of people to both his hotel and to Manitou Springs because of the beneficial health effects of the carbonated and mineralized spring water. As it turned out, Nichols Cliff House became a popular  destination for the well-to-do and guests included Theodore Roosevelt, Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria; William Henry Jackson; Charles Dickens Jr.; P.T. Barnum; Thomas Edison; Clark Gable; F. W. Woolworth; and, J. Paul Getty.

Links to two additional Western Trips photo articles you'll find interesting include the old Montezuma Castle mineral springs spa in Las Vegas New Mexico and the Santa Fe Trail Wagon Ruts visible at Fort Union National Monument in northern New Mexico.

Visiting The Cliff House

The Cliff House today is a beautiful Victorian Alpine retreat along the foothills of Pikes Peak. Inside and out, the Cliff House is a first class Colorado resort and one of the best things to do is sitting on the large porch and enjoying the scenery. The resort is located at 306 Canon Avenue near the center of town. This is a must see during your Manitou Springs vacation.

When you travel through Colorado Springs either coming or going from Manitou Springs there is another magnificent structure you may want to visit. Glen Eyrie is a 67-room English Tudor-style castle in Colorado Springs with 24 fireplaces. The house was built by General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs. Glen Eyrie is on the National Register of Historic Places. The general public is allowed on its grounds Monday through Thursday (9-4) to visit its bookstore, located at the Carriage House, or to hike its many trails. The location is 3820 N. 30th St., Colorado Springs Colorado. 

Two interesting companion side trips in the same general area of Colorado is the old mining town of Cripple Creek and the site of the Colorado Coalfield War in Ludlow. Cripple Creek is a short drive west into the mountains and Ludlow is south of Colorado Springs  just off Interstate-25.


View Larger Map