Redstone, CO

Redstone is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in the Crystal River Valley of Pitkin County, surrounded by the White River National Forest and the mountains of western Colorado. Ute people used the valley as a summer hunting ground before forced removal in 1881. Later prospectors came for gold, silver, coal, and marble, and industrialist John Cleveland Osgood built a planned coal town around the coke ovens and railroad. The Redstone Inn, cottages, clubhouse, library, theater, school, gardens, and stables made the company town unusually complete.

ATTRJesse Varner from Boulder, Colorado, USA. Cropped and color-corected prior to upload by Daniel Case / CC BY-SA 2.0

Coal mining ended early, but the historic district still gives Redstone its shape. The Crystal River runs alongside the village, while State Highway 133 carries traffic toward Carbondale, Marble, and the wider Roaring Fork Valley. Today, shops, restaurants, lodging, trails, art, and community groups share the old industrial setting, and the Redstone Museum holds photographs and objects from the mining era. Redstone is a Colorado mountain place where a company-town plan, a river, and a living arts-and-outdoors community occupy the same narrow valley.