In November 2017 the National Park Service announced the listing in the National Register of the nearly 28,000-acre Tarryall Rural Historic District in Park County in central Colorado. The recognition culminated work that started with a 1996 survey of the road. The high altitude scenic rural district embraces land along Tarryall Creek and Tarryall Road (County Road 77) bounded by the Tarryall Mountains to the north and the Puma Hills to the south. The district extends from south of Jefferson approximately 39 miles to U.S. Highway 24 northwest of Lake George. The nominated area is part of the drainage of meandering Tarryall, Michigan, and Jefferson creeks and a stretch of the South Platte River. In 1862 wagon road was constructed through the area extending from Colorado City on Fountain Creek in the Pikes Peak region to the 1859 mining camps of Tarryall and Hamilton. Pioneer settlers established homesteads along the original road, which became County Road 77.
The area’s outstanding landscape qualities make the lands along the road in fact, if not by formal designation, a scenic byway. Views within the district provide vistas of distant mountain peaks and ranges; forested hillsides of pine, spruce, and aspen; prominent rock outcroppings; the lively waters of Michigan, Jefferson, and Tarryall creeks and the South Platte River; widely separated clusters of ranch headquarters buildings; bottomlands with lush, level hay meadows; herds of grazing beef cattle and bison; and occasional sightings of a resident band of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and other wildlife. The valley alternately narrows and opens within the district. A trip through the valley offers a constantly changing juxtaposition of the natural setting and the legacy of historic human activities as the road descends from 9,350’ elevation on the north to 7,940’ at the south end.
The district contains still-active historic ranches with more than a dozen buildings and hundreds of acres of land, as well as vacant and weathered buildings reflecting historic habitation of long ago. The district embraces the full range of historic activities along the Tarryall, including twenty-five historic livestock ranch headquarters and several individual buildings associated with the area’s ranching history. Other resources representing the area’s historic development and community life include two one-room schools, three old road segments, three cemeteries, two timber bridges, and buildings associated with the community of Tarryall/Puma City. Marilyn Martorano of Martorano Consultants LLC contributed to the nomination.
The area’s outstanding landscape qualities make the lands along the road in fact, if not by formal designation, a scenic byway. Views within the district provide vistas of distant mountain peaks and ranges; forested hillsides of pine, spruce, and aspen; prominent rock outcroppings; the lively waters of Michigan, Jefferson, and Tarryall creeks and the South Platte River; widely separated clusters of ranch headquarters buildings; bottomlands with lush, level hay meadows; herds of grazing beef cattle and bison; and occasional sightings of a resident band of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and other wildlife. The valley alternately narrows and opens within the district. A trip through the valley offers a constantly changing juxtaposition of the natural setting and the legacy of historic human activities as the road descends from 9,350’ elevation on the north to 7,940’ at the south end.
The district contains still-active historic ranches with more than a dozen buildings and hundreds of acres of land, as well as vacant and weathered buildings reflecting historic habitation of long ago. The district embraces the full range of historic activities along the Tarryall, including twenty-five historic livestock ranch headquarters and several individual buildings associated with the area’s ranching history. Other resources representing the area’s historic development and community life include two one-room schools, three old road segments, three cemeteries, two timber bridges, and buildings associated with the community of Tarryall/Puma City. Marilyn Martorano of Martorano Consultants LLC contributed to the nomination.
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