Schweiger Ranch

Just down the highway a piece from the skyline of denver, smack dab in the middle of suburbia, sits a piece of the old west.

This is the Schweiger Ranch, originally the Happy Canyon Ranch,  which was established in 1874 by Austrian emigrant brothers John, Joseph, & Jacob Schweiger. Through homesteading & land purchases, the brothers grew their ranch to 4000 acres.  If that isn’t the American dream come true, I don’t know what is.  

The first thing you see when you drive onto the property is this wonderful old white clapboard house. The house was built sometime between the late 1890’s and 1910 and still retains much of it’s original charm and character.

I love the arches on the front porch and those little ball design thingies – I am sure there is a more accurate name for those details!

The side porch looks to the east, towards the barns and the remnants of the original apple orchard. 

You can see part of the apple orchard in the distance to the left of the very tall trees.

When I was taking a tour of the property, I was told that the apple trees were originally planted from seed.  Over time they have become a mix of mackintosh and crab apple…not a very good eating apple but great for pies. 

I love the idea of having a porch with a blue ceiling.  Did you know that in the deep south of old, porch ceilings were painted a blue green color that is known as Haint blue. There was a belief that spirits known as haints, could not cross water and by painting ceilings in blue to represent water the spirits could not enter the house.  

The house still has the original doorknobs which I find amazing.

The house obviously didn’t have central heating when it was built, but with two chimneys, they must have been able to keep the house pretty comfortable in the winter with wood burning stoves on either side of the house.

 

When you enter the house through the front door, the staircase is straight ahead.  Look closely and you can see how the stairs have worn down in the center over time.

Just stop and think about that for a minute.  How many trips up and down those stairs over 100 years did it take to do this?  

The chicken coop is the white building and the dairy barn is to the right.  

 

Cattle chute.

 

 

 

 

If you want to visit or read more about the Schweiger Ranch, which is in Lone Tree, CO, here are a few links:

Article about the start of restoration on the ranch

Facebook video about the ranch has some interesting old photos of what the house looked like before restoration.

Schweiger Ranch website

I hope you enjoyed this little trip in to the past.

Until next time, Happy Trails