A Sunday Afternoon At Four Mile House

I took my sister Susan to visit Denver's Four Mile House a few Sundays ago. This is the oldest house in Denver, built in 1859 along the Cherokee Trail, which was established in 1849 as a route to the gold fields in California. Two brothers who were returning from those gold fields - empty handed of course - built a two-story cabin and started farming the property. The following year they sold the place to a businesswoman named Mary Cawker, who opened an inn for travelers. Two years after that, in 1862, regular stagecoach service began and the inn became the last stop before Denver, which was exactly four miles away - hence the name Four Mile House. That house can be seen on the right in the photo on the left, and the oldest portion, with the bar and fireplace is the wood structure to the left.

Once rail service was established in Denver in 1870, stagecoach service ended, and the house reverted to being a farm. And today, in addition to the house, Four Mile Historic Park is also a living farm, with goats, horses, chickens, and pigs. There are now an additional half-dozen Nigerian goats on the property, born this past June, that are being used for goat-yoga classes through a partnership with Rocky Mountain Goat Yoga. And what is goat-yoga? It is yoga in an enclosed outdoor space with a bunch of baby goats wandering around, who often like to stand on the backs of the participants, who are holding various yoga positions. The photograph on the right shows a couple of those Nigerian goats. And why do they use Nigerian goats? Beats me. I don't even know why those yoga enthusiasts would want to have goats standing on their backs.

As I mentioned before, there are other animals on the farm, too, including the horse in the photograph on the left. There were two horses in the pasture, but neither one seemed very interested in posing for a portrait. In fact, I was lucky to get that photo. As for the pigs, they were busy eating out of their trough, and never even raised their heads the entire time we were there. Four Mile House remained a farm for many years, and several additions were made to the original structure. It, along with 12 acres of land along Cherry Creek, were acquired by the City of Denver back in 1975, and was turned into the historic park it is today. And definitely worth a visit.