Two-Lane Tidbit: Warden’s House, Cañon City, CO

Cañon City, CO is home to more than the famous Royal Gorge Bridge, it’s also home to the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility. Despite digging we can’t quite get a straight story, but as we once heard, way back in 1868 (before Colorado was a state), Cañon City had the choice of the state prison or the university. They chose the former and Boulder became home to the University of Colorado. Opened in 1871, the Territorial Prison is the oldest jail in operation in the Centennial State and in its past has housed some famous inmates, including Colorado’s Notorious Cannibal, Alferd Packer (a story for another day), and the Unibomber. The Warden’s House, located next to the prison, was built in 1907 using stone quarried from behind the prison, labor from the prisoners, and was heated by the prison’s boilers. It remained a private residence until the 1970s, after which it housed Department of Corrections staff until 2007. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, and a study determined that it needs more than $500,000 to renovate. As there is no funding currently available it has been added to Colorado Preservation’s list of endangered places in hopes that it will someday be rehabilitated.

2 thoughts on “Two-Lane Tidbit: Warden’s House, Cañon City, CO

  1. Michael Amstein Reply

    Wow guys, having recently spent an anniversary weekend in Palisade, your names came up as we sat at your old property. We first discovered Canyon Wind when we met Jay at a North Field wine tasting weekend, and have come to barrel tasting several times, when you were developing the first labels for Anemoi. Needless to say we consider ourselves oenophiles. While drinking a glass with Ben Parsons at his new digs, I found your blog and adventures. Over the last several days I have read almost everything with a combination of envy and jealousy. What a great next chapter. We are close to retirement and plan on getting an RV to take a lap around the US. My plan is to visit 365 wineries in 365 days, I even bought the domain 365in365.com and plan to blog it. Colleen wants to do the same but with DDD joints. Thanks for the great content, and hope to see you on the road sometime. I still have a bottle of IV on its side, it’s probably getting about time to crack it open. – Michael & Colleen Amstein

    1. Tin Sheets Reply

      Michael & Colleen,

      Thank you so much for reading through our adventures! We have had lots of fun exploring the country and feel incredibly lucky that we have had the opportunity to change to a career that gives us the freedom to travel.

      It sounds like you have some incredible adventures planned! I haven’t been the best about writing actual blog posts based on our travels in the last few years, so please feel free to send me an email at [email protected] if you have questions about places you are interested in/have questions about- we’ve been to many places that aren’t listed on the blog. We hope you have as much fun as we have once you hit the road and we’ll be keeping an eye on your website to see if there are places that we need to add to our list. 🙂

      As for that bottle of IV, if it’s a 2007 then it’s a great time to enjoy. If it’s a 2012, you probably have another few years.

      Safe travels and cheers!
      Jen

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