-
Exhibit Installation May 14 - 22
New exhibits will be installed in the new visitor center May 14 - 22. Access to the park film and exhibits may be reduced. You may want to consider visiting after May 23 if you schedule permits. The park remains open every day from 9am - 5pm.
Commerical Quarries and Dude Ranches
Brochure from the Colorado Petrified Forest NPS Archives Starting in the early 1920's and perhaps earlier, a variety of commercial tourist sites enticed visitors to see the massive petrified redwoods and collect fossils. Colorado Petrified Forest The Colorado Petrified Forest was a private concession and dude ranch that featured the Big Stump. The main lodge building was the old train depot from the town of Florissant. Inside the lodge were exhibits of fossils and a massive fireplace made out of petrified wood. The Colorado Petrified Forest was owned by the Singer family and ran from the 1920's until the area became a monument. It had previously been called the Coplen Petrified Forest. Pike Petrified Forest Just 1/2 mile south of the Colorado Petrified Forest was the Pike Petrified Forest which featured the Redwood Trio. This site was owned at different times by the the Hendersons, Millers, and Bakers. The Pike Petrified Forest also operated from the 1920's unit the Monument was established in 1969. The visitor center for the Pike Petrified Forest is still used as the visitor center for Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. 
Brochure for the Pike Petrified Forest
NPS Archives
|
Did You Know?
The name Florissant comes from a French word meaning "blooming" or "flowering." Florissant, Colorado was settled in 1870 and named after the town of Florissant, Missouri. The name still holds true as there are both modern and fossil flowers found in the area today.