Stone House Park -- Nonfiction

The Stone House

Built sometime between 1859 and 1864, the Stone House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Constructed of stones from Bear Creek and rough-dressed sandstone quarried from a nearby ridge called the Hogback, the house has 18 inch thick walls -- the better for its inhabitants to withstand 100 degree summers and minus degree winters. These days it belongs to the City of Lakewood and is a popular venue for wedding receptions and family reunions.

Stone House Park is one of our walking group's favorite destinations.

Bear Creek, where they gathered the rounded river rocks used in building the house, runs through the park. Fed by snow melt in the mountains to the west, it provides water to this otherwise parched country. Water for trout, trees, birds, and wildlife of all kinds.

A paved bike and walking path runs along the south side of the creek. It goes west to Red Rocks Park, home of the well-known Red Rocks Amphitheater where everybody from The Beatles to Joe Bonamassa have performed. The bike path runs east to the South Platte River Trail.

Along the north side of the creek, the trails are unpaved, but well-maintained.



I completely missed the weather forecast for this morning. I thought it was supposed to be 48 degrees and sunny.  Silly me. It was 33 degrees and completely overcast at walking-time. Some of us had other obligations and others had more sense than I so I walked alone. That was perfectly okay. I could stop and take pictures at will, without worrying that I was slowing the group down.

With the flowers and most of the leaves gone for the winter, I saw things that I hadn't noticed before. Like the bat houses that local Eagle Scouts have put up near the shore of the park's lower lake.

And a grand old cottonwood stump, much bigger around than two people could reach.

By the end of my walk, I ran into Lanay, a fellow member of our walking group. Our group is from everywhere -- New Jersey, Louisiana, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Germany, California, etc. And even a couple of Colorado natives.

In addition to walking together in beautiful parks, we visit. I get to learn about all kinds of places I've never been. For example, Lanay did her graduate work at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. And that is one of the places my daughter is applying to for graduate school. So I got to find out that Ithaca is a beautiful city on a hill and Cornell is a welcoming and well-regarded educational institution. I've  appreciated their Ornithology Lab and its All About Birds website for years. But now, I know that it will be a good place for her to live, if she does go there for school.

What better way is there to make connections with the world?