Gunnison Valley, Colorado Heritage Tourism

Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum

Start your self guided driving tour at the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum. The museum offers guided and self guided walking tours of Historic Crested Butte.

Gunnison Pioneer Museum

The Pioneer Museum's 5 acre campus features many original historic buildings, one of Colorado's largest car museums, a train exhibit, and more! Open Memorial Day through September.

 To learn more about the history of Gunnison County's railroads, outhouses and graves use these links to view the brochure file:
Gunnison County's Railroads

Gunnison County's Outhouses

Gunnison County's Graves

We invite you to enjoy our self guided heritage driving tour! Along the way you will experience incredible vistas, meet friendly locals and see that our county is steeped in rich Western and Victorian mining era history. The tour self guides you to interesting sites throughout the Gunnison Valley, most accessible by passenger vehicle.

Some sites are located on private property and we ask that you please respect this by observing them from the roadway.

Remember to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints so that future generations can continue to enjoy our heritage, too.

If you would like to stretch your legs, the Town of Crested Butte offers a Heritage Walking Tour and the City of Gunnison offers a Historic Walking Tour!

Free brochures are available for pick-up at the Gunnison, Crested Butte and Mt Crested Butte Visitor Centers, by phone 800-814-7988 and by online request, just click here. Or if you’d like you may download the Gunnison Valley Driving Tour brochure, as a PDF, and print it yourself.

If old western movies interest you, you'll enjoy this 30 minute short film (view part I and then part II) entitled "American Cowboy." It was filmed in Gunnison in 1951 and features early "product placement" in film, showcasing Ford trucks. "American Cowboy" includes ranching scenes, cattle drives into the mountains, the Cattlemen's Days parade up Main Street, the rodeo, and loading cattle onto the train for shipment to market.

Rancher Roberson's daughter, Sandra Dowis who still lives here in Gunnison, recalls the pride the ranching community felt that a film was made about our community and the ranching industry. The film makers returned for a local premiere that was held at the rodeo grounds. At that time, they presented Gus Roberson with a 1951 Ford to thank him for his help.

For great information on Historic Preservation in Gunnison County be sure to visit the Gunnison County Historic Preservation website.