
Discover Colorado
Trinidad History Museum
Explore Trinidad’s past and its place in the American West at the Trinidad History Museum. The museum features several attractions on one block in Trinidad's acclaimed historic district.
Hours
The Santa Fe Trail Museum & Gift Shop, gardens and grounds are open year round.
We recommend to schedule ahead for any groups of 12 or more with a reservation. Call 719-846-7217
Location
What to See
Bloom Mansion
The Bloom Mansion is an outstanding example of ornate Second Empire architecture constructed in 1882. The friendly and knowledgeable staff relate information about the Bloom family and the rooming house phase of the mid-twentieth century.
Baca House
In 1873, Felipe and Dolores Baca traded 22,000 pounds of wool for an unusual adobe house built for Santa Fe Trail entrepreneur John Hough. The Baca House boasts two stories, a widow's walk, and Greek architectural details. Colorful Rio Grande textiles, Victorian furniture, and other period furnishings evoke the lifestyle of this prominent family.
Santa Fe Trail Museum
The Santa Fe Trail Museum displays historic photographs, commercial goods, and family heirlooms from Trail days through Trinidad's heyday at the turn of the century. A fringed buckskin coat that Kit Carson gave to a pioneer mayor is a local treasure.
Barglow Building
Four Doric columns and a Greek pediment porch frame the entrance to the Barglow Building, built in 1906 as a medical office and family apartment. Today the building houses the Davenport Gallery, Book and Gift Shop, Ticket Office, Education Center, and Colorado Byways and Tourist Information Center.
Baca-Bloom Heritage Gardens
Colorful Victorian flowers, antique roses and grape vines adorn the Bloom yard where you can relax with a game of croquet. Heirloom herbs and vegetables flourish in the Southwest Kitchen Garden and Annual Ethnic Garden. Native flowers, cacti and grasses thrive throughout the heritage gardens. This oasis in the city is a Plant Select site featuring water-wise plants certified for Colorado’s climate.
Tribal Paths Online
This online exhibit looks at major events in the history of American Indians in Colorado over the past five centuries—trade networks; encounters with newcomers; the removal of tribes to reservations; the children’s experience with boarding schools; and the American Indian civil rights movement.
Education Programs
Hands-On History
Check out our Hands-On History after school programs and day camps
School Tours
Listen, Look & Do! (1 hour, pre-k to first grade): This tour is designed to introduce younger students to Colorado history in an exciting and fun way. The tour includes an interactive story time, mini-tour of our museum, and an engaging activity perfect for early learners.
Trinidad Time Travelers (2 hours, all ages): In this school tour, students have the opportunity to discover the rich history of Trinidad and some of its key historical figures through interactive, hands-on activities like wool dyeing, building adobe bricks, and exploring our historic houses. Students will learn about the Baca and Bloom families as well as other important people in Trinidad's past. This tour can be adjusted for any grade level and meets Colorado Academic Standards.
Santa Fe Explorers (2 hours, 3rd grade and up): Our Santa Fe Explorers school tour focuses on the history of the Santa Fe Trail in the Trinidad area and its importance in Southern Colorado history. Students will participate in problem solving activities and games related to trading, life on the trail, and the different cultural groups that influenced the trail.
Learn more about the History Colorado Bus Fund.
History Take Out
Moving Day: Colorado Culture. Using objects, photos, and a large walk-on map of the state, students will learn about different cultural groups from Colorado history including the Ute, miners, ancestral Puebloans, and mountain men.
Western Work: Colorado Industries of the Past. Students will engage with some objects and become "entrepreneurs" in some of Colorado's most important industries. Western Work meets economic, history and geography standards and encourages students to explore natural, capital, and human resources through a historical lens.
For more information call Abigail Melton at 719-846-7217.
Parking
On-street parking is available throughout the area.
Shopping
The Book and Gift Shop features books about the history of Trinidad and nearby communities, the Santa Fe Trail, Hispanic culture, and gardening as well as a selection of cookbooks, southwestern literary classics, and children’s books (including Spanish-English books). The Museum Shop also carries gift items made in Colorado, including Trinidad, and offers free gift wrapping.
Rentals Available
The Baca-Bloom Heritage Gardens offer a beautiful setting for any event. Gardens, lawns, and a quaint apple orchard create an oasis around the Bloom Mansion, an ornate Victorian home built in 1882. Century-old trees and a colorful array of pink hollyhocks, blue columbines, orange trumpet vines, and other seasonal blossoms make this a unique setting.
Multiple Rental Sites with varying capacity.
Prices
Please call for pricing
Availability
Please call for availability
Contact: 719-846-7217