Yesterday’s hike at Staunton State Park was a little longer than usual, hence this post is delayed by a day for extra recovery time. I didn’t take a lot of pictures yesterday because you’ve seen most of them before. But what we lack in scenery we make up for in the history of Archie G. Staunton, an eastern transplant and retired doctor who, along with his wife Rachel – also a doctor – founded the Lazy V Ranch as a tuberculosis treatment center in 1928.
As the story goes, the Stauntons were native West Virginians – hence the “V” – and considered their Colorado mountain retreat perfect for retirement – hence the “Lazy.”
After both Dr’s Staunton passed away, daughter Frances inherited the property and left it to the State in her will. After over 25 more years of wrangling with adjacent property owners, Staunton became a State Park in 1991. With that kind of extended prep time, you’ll be glad it took me only one extra day to bring you this post.
More on the Staunton family’s history is here. Check out more pictures of past adventures in Colorado’s newest State Park, here.