Castle Rock, Colorado -- (6250 ft. altitude) originally a railroad stop that also served emigrants on one of the trails from New Mexico to Denver. It eventually became the county seat for Douglas County. The story I heard: public-minded citizens sneaked over to Franktown in the dead of night, stole the county documents, and had them stashed in Castle Rock before Franktown officials could do anything about it!
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| A 1910 postcard. The old depot was moved several blocks over, and now serves as the town museum. (No surprise, obviously, that it's haunted.) |
'The Rock' started its life as 'Poundcake Rock,' named for an expedition, scouted by Kit Carson, who was literally starving. They must have been, to give this craggy butte such a scrumptious name. (Fortunately, the group's hunters managed to shoot an elk soon after they came into the vicinity.)
Actually, Castle Rock looks much more like the broad prow of an ocean liner, than a castle. But what do I know...
Several other buttes are nearby. This area is famous for its pinkish rhyolite rock: easy to build with, sturdy and inexpensive. (At least until the quarries began to burn out.) The huge two-story fireplace in our 1960s house is faced with slabs of rhyolite.
In the 1940s, a large star was added to The Rock, along with an American flag. Every year since then, the star is lit just before the Christmas season...then stays on through the Western Stock Show in late January. The actual starlighting is accompanied by crowds, a chili supper at the local fire station, musical groups...and a big whoop-tee-do lighting ceremony that includes fireworks.
The Star has also become a way to comment on what's happening, not only here in Colorado (orange and blue for the Broncos and the Superbowl, for example), but in the world. During the Iranian hostage crisis, the star stayed lit until the hostages came home.
Here's 2015's version of the Starlighting:
I-25 climbs as it heads south out of Denver, then rolls down into Castle Rock. At nighttime, the golden star 'hangs' low, the shadow of the rock 'disappearing' as you drive toward it. Over the years, it's become a welcoming sight --
and a reminder that we're finally home.
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| vintage photo from blog.porchlightgroup.com |
2 comments:
Excellent article! The Molly Brown House Museum was built with rock quarried from Castle Rock! Very informative article. I didn't know it was called "Pudding Cake Rock," lol.
Well, thank you, Sheryl! Except I messed up...it was POUNDCAKE rock. I'll fix that...
Glad you liked the article. Thanks for letting me know...that's always nice.
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