Green Mountain Falls, CO

Green Mountain Falls sits in Ute Pass west of Colorado Springs, split between El Paso and Teller counties. The town began as a summer resort after W.J. Foster bought the valley in 1887; the lake was dug, a gazebo island and tent cabins followed, and the town incorporated in 1890. Gazebo Lake is still the visual center, with the town hall, old Church in the Wildwood, trails, and bits of the resort-era building stock nearby. The county line is not just a map detail: children on one side attend Manitou Springs schools, while the Teller County side falls in Woodland Park's district. Green Mountain Falls feels like a mountain town whose first job was giving plains travelers a cool place to stop.