Haunted Hotels of Northern Colorado by Nancy K Williams

Author:Nancy K Williams [Williams, Nancy K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Travel, Museums; Tours; & Points of Interest, History, Americas, United States, Religion & Spirituality, New Age
ISBN: 9781625854582
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2015-10-05T04:00:00+00:00

BROOK FOREST INN

The Brook Forest Inn has been the center of a small summer community southwest of Evergreen since the early 1900s. The Westerfield family filed a homestead claim on 350 acres in 1909 and built a log cabin near Cub Creek. They planted vegetables and worked the land for about two years but became discouraged by the deep snows and harsh weather, which froze their crops. They abandoned their homestead in 1911.

Austrian Edwin Welz and his Swiss wife, Riggi, had come to Colorado in 1910 and were working at the Brown Palace. They saw an opportunity in the growing resort hotel business, and in 1913, they learned about the abandoned homestead near Evergreen. After a rugged trip up a narrow, twisted trail, they found the forlorn cabin with a board sign nailed to it bearing the faded words “Brook Forest.” The Welzes liked the mountainous area, which reminded them of Switzerland, and they decided this would be their home.

They filed a homestead claim, repaired the cabin, added a small building and planted a vegetable garden. Knowing their dream of a resort hotel wouldn’t come true if the guests couldn’t reach it, they started work on the wagon trail. Impassable in the winter, it followed the creek and was so steep, twisting and narrow that a horse and buggy couldn’t even turn around. They began blasting rocks and widening it so Edwin could commute to Denver for work and haul building materials from Evergreen. For years, he continued to work in Denver, traveling up and down Brook Forest Road to earn money for “their mountain project.”

Finally, the Welzes had saved enough money to hire an architect to draw plans for their Swiss chalet, but they were unable to obtain financing to start building. So they began building themselves, laying the foundation and hiring carpenters when they could afford them. They built with large logs and white and rose quartz and worked on the structure as time and money allowed. They incorporated the original cabin into the parlor and lounge, and the interior had massive, weathered beams. There were multi-paned windows and several rock fireplaces. The red roof was steeply pitched, and a second-story balcony completed the Tudor Revival/Swiss Chalet–style building. The inn had all the luxuries of the day: indoor plumbing with full baths, hot and cold running water and electricity.

In 1919, the Welzes entertained their first guests, two schoolteachers from Denver. The ladies enjoyed the landscaped grounds with the sundial, fountains and old-fashioned lights illuminating the garden paths. The couple continued to improve the inn, adding nine chalet cottages, a swimming pool, a spacious recreation hall and a stable for their riding horses. By 1935, they’d built a huge outdoor barbecue oven to handle meals for large groups that held their picnics and social events at Brook Forest. Then, “Maw and Paw Welz” expanded their dining room to accommodate the numerous fans of Riggi’s cooking.

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