Silver Plume, Colorado

[eleny]

Most people drive to Georgetown for the Victorian atmosphere and a trip up Guanella Pass. Silver Plume is the next town going west on I-70.

I like just driving up to Silver Plume. It's tiny, old, quaint as heck and has a great little general store where you can get fresh baked breads, daily. I recommend the fruit bread and the cottage cheese dill.

If you drive to the general store and park beside it, you can then walk to the end of town and over a small berm of rocks. Walk a few feet more and there's the remnants of the local mining on your left. I think it's the remnants of a wooden sluice. A nice place to take a photo. When I was there a few weeks ago it was a gorgeous day and there were two artists working on paintings on Main Street.

There's only a couple of streets in town. Seeing the old houses that aren't all spiffed up is worth the visit. Being so close to Denver makes it an easy place to take visitors for a peek at the old mountain west. And you can always go to Georgetown for some touristy fun stuff afterward.
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/co/silverplume.html

[randr]

1. Silver Plume fascination

My wife and myself have over many years had an attraction to Silver Plume, stopping for gas and just driving around the town to break up the frequent trips from our homes on the Western slope to Denver/Boulder.
Recently my wife dug up some genealogy information and discovered one of her great grandfathers spent time there as a bartender in the late 1800's. She and her brother's fascination with the town bordered on the weird and now she has some concrete information to substantiate her intuition.

[eleny]

2. That's great!

I don't know anyone with a connection to the town. It's an odd little place tucked up against the mountain. But I love the place because it hardly changes from decade to decade.

[MonteLukast]

3. I don't often go to Silver Plume...

... but I have gone to Idaho Springs three times in the last six weeks. I'm a bit skittish about driving up to the mountains in the winter, but Silver Plume is only a little bit farther along, so it shouldn't be a problem unless there's snow or ice coming down.

[eleny]

4. The exit for SP is pretty quick after the last Gerogetwon exit

So just go slow and you'll have no problems.

When you get off at the exit and reach the stop sign, turn right, go over the bridge to cross the creek and follow that road slowly into town.

I think the speed limit is 10 miles an hour. But you wouldn't want to go any faster, really. And it's not a speed trap. You'll want to poke along and see it. :D