moving to leadville (Denver, Twin Lakes, Aspen: environment, work, houses)

[huskerfreak]

hello everyone
I'm thinking of moving to leadville. I would love it if you would share some information about it with me. what are the churches in town like? what is the school like (it's sports, theatre, academics, etc)? also are there cabins everywhere in the mountains for a mile of two surriounding it (this is something that I hate about colorado towns like breakenridge)? If any of you are hunters what's the hunting like around there? anything else that you know and would like to share about the town would be appreciated. I love the snow and winter camping and cross country skiing. In the summer I like canoeing, kayaking, hunting, fishing, and camping.

[jadybug]

I can tell you from my brief experience with Leadville (We were headed for a peek/look at Aspen) it is the poor man's "Aspen." The towns are very close to one another, but Leadville is truly a working man's town. Not at all wealthy, and my husband and I even considered moving there.

I wish I would have taken notice of the churches there, but we had only a short time to spend. I don't really remember anything negative-even with our two adopted dark, African-American babes in tow!!

Hope that helps.

[jadybug]

P.S. Perfect place to do all the wonderful stuff from a humble base camp like most of us can afford!!

"I guess he'd rather be in Colorado..."

[jazzlover]

I have friends who live in Leadville. They are Leadville natives and they wouldn't live anywhere else. Leadville is one of the most historical towns in Colorado--and a lot historical structures remain there. I love it for that.

But, Leadville is not a place that is easy to live. At 10,000 feet, it has a climate that most people can't take--snow any month of the year, about a 14-day growing season, and frost anytime. I've heard plenty of people from elsewhere say the "love winter," etc., etc., but after 9 months straight of it followed by about 3 weeks of summer, then a month or so of fall, and then more days that look like winter than fall, then back to winter--even the winter-lovers have often had enough of Leadville. If you haven't lived through that, you probably haven't experienced "real" winter like a place like Leadville has.

As I mentioned, Leadville was--and would like to be again--a mining town. There are mine tailings everywhere. It's not a "pristine" mountain environment anywhere around town. There is gorgeous country surrounding Leadville, to be sure, but Leadville itself is, well, rust belt industrial in many ways.

I would live in Leadville in a second, as opposed to one of Colorado's yuppie resort towns, but Leadville is very much an acquired taste for most people. I can't comment on the Leadville schools, since my friends who live there all have grown children. I do know that for quite a long time, some of the physical school facilities themselves in Leadville were considered pretty substandard. When the mines closed, Lake County lost a great deal of its tax base, and that has adversely affected funding for schools, county government, etc. for years.

I would suggest you visit and form your own opinions.

[onthamove]

i just visited the area and loved it but as much as i like winter 9 months may be a little long for me, not sure but good luck with everything

[DOUBLE H]

Jazzlover is right. You have to be tough to live there. It is the highest incorporated community in the United States. The people who live year round there live simply, but their the most friendly in the state. I take my hat off to them. There is a lot of history there in Leadville, probably the noted silver camp in the region. Twin Lakes and Turquoise Lake are good fishing and camping spots. The history goes back 130 plus years, and I love the downtown area.

[preppyglam]

we went through leadville once on our way back from white water rafting. i remember it being a small town (but, then again, lots of towns seem small to me since im from a dense so cal area). i remember going to this mining museum and we saw a model of the town. i guess the entire town is upheld by logs from all the mining that took place. it was really crazy to see!

we ate a late lunch at a small little diner on the main drag. the people were nice. small town people. the houses and such were all pretty cozy and rustic looking. looked like an area where everyone knew each other. not really a lot there, from what i saw, beyond the main street with small shops and diners, etc. the view of the mountains is amazing there...very beautiful. and the drive in and out, if i remember correctly, was kinda long (we were heading back to the 70)- but very pretty.

[mariewendan]

I lived in Leadville from second grade through sixth grade and my baby sister is burried in the Leadville cemetary. I still have friends there and visit each time I pass through. Leadville is georgeous! But all the posts are right about the winters. There were years that I was there that it snowed year round. The summers will only get up to the 70s if you are lucky. The school was REALLY GOOD. At least it was when I was growing up (to date myself, I lived there from 1986-1991. When we moved to Denver in 1991, I was way ahead of my classmates because of the education I received in Leadville. In the Intermediate school (grades 3-8) there is a swimming pool (indoor) and they teach swimming lessons during gym class. Or at least they did when I was attending school there. And we also got skiing lessons during the gym class. On Fridays, we were bussed to Ski Cooper- the local ski resort. It's a nice little resort. I can't stand yuppie Colorado towns like Aspen, Telluride, etc. and Leadville IS NOT one of them. Very few people are "yuppies" here. There are many poor people in Leadville and as one of the posts said, it is very much a "working mans" town. It's beautful right in town (I disagree with the post that said it's not, because it IS!) and directly out of it. The only complaint I had about Leadville was the violence I experienced during school. I am not racist- this is just fact of what happened. There are alot of hispanic people in Leadville that do not like white people. I was often called "Gringo". A group of hispanic girls during school would pick on one white girl each week..when it was my turn, in the 4th grade, I was held by 3 of them while a 4th one kicked me in the gut several times. At the end of the week- on a different occasion, they ripped off my winter jacket and threw it in the trash. Hopefully the school system has a better handle on the violence there now than they did when I was going to school there.
Good Luck!

[Shuffler]

why that's a fine little story....

[Sockeye]

mariewendan wrote:"The only complaint I had about Leadville was the violence I experienced during school. I am not racist- this is just fact of what happened. There are alot of hispanic people in Leadville that do not like white people. I was often called "Gringo". A group of hispanic girls during school would pick on one white girl each week..when it was my turn, in the 4th grade, I was held by 3 of them while a 4th one kicked me in the gut several times. At the end of the week- on a different occasion, they ripped off my winter jacket and threw it in the trash. Hopefully the school system has a better handle on the violence there now than they did when I was going to school there."

I'll bet you wish you knew martial arts back then.