South Park City, Open-air mining museum in Fairplay, US.
South Park City is an open-air museum in Fairplay, Colorado, that brings together thirty-four historic buildings from the gold rush era on a single site. The buildings were moved here from abandoned settlements across the South Park region to form a complete town layout.
The buildings were rescued from abandoned mining camps and ghost towns scattered across the South Park region during the 20th century and relocated here. The museum opened to the public in 1959, saving structures that would otherwise have been lost to the elements.
The buildings are set up as if their occupants just stepped out, with original objects left on counters and workbenches. Visitors can walk through a drugstore, a brewery, and a blacksmith shop, each arranged to show how that trade worked in a small mining town.
The site sits at over 9,500 feet (about 2,900 meters) above sea level, so visitors should bring water and take the altitude into account when planning the visit. Hours vary by season, so checking before you go helps avoid a wasted trip.
The grounds include an original cemetery, one of the few surviving traces of community life from the mining era that was not lost when the towns were abandoned. Unlike the buildings, the cemetery was never moved but remained in place, making it the only element on the site with an unbroken connection to its original location.
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