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The early history of the Pikes Peak region was intimately connected to the Cherokee Trail, which paralleled the Front Range of the Rockies. The old trail opened up the region to the early trappers, traders and mountain men, as well as to the later gold seekers and settlers - all of whom contributed to the legends, ghost stories and historical lore that have endured to this day.
Just over 140 years ago a teamster named Michael Fagan was buried beside the Cherokee Trail in what is now central Colorado. His grave remains there still, in mute tetimony to the history of the region.
Fagan's Grave
The magnificent red rocks of the Garden of the Gods lay within sight of the Cherokee Trail. Many 19th-century travelers crossed the intervening hills to camp in this natural amphitheater of beauty and rest.
Garden of the Gods with Pikes Peak in Background
The story of an historic campground along the Cherokee Trail in what is now central Colorado. The campground was namd for the legendary Jimmy Daugherty, and was used in turn by 19th-century trappers, gold seekers, settlers, coalminers and ranchers.
Jimmy Camp
Travel the 19th-century Cherokee Trail up the front range of the Colorado Rockies.
Cherokee Trail Crossing of Black Squirrel Creek
The 19th-century love story of Queen Mellen and General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs.
Queen reflected in a mirror, 1870
Fagan's Grave on the Cherokee Trail.