Pikes Peak Historical Society May Chautauqua

A Rocky Mountain Lady

Join Victorian travel writer Isabella Bird as she recounts her famous solitary 600 mile long ride through the Rocky Mountains in the early winter of 1873. Isabella, who was forty-two at the time, rode her Indian pony Birdie from Denver to Colorado Springs, up Ute Pass through Woodland Park, Divide, Florissant and Lake George, before turning north along the lonely Tarryall Mountains to Kenosha Pass and back to Denver.

Told in Isabella’s own voice and words, the journey brings to life the Colorado Territory in ways both immediate and poetic. Excerpted from some of Birds many travel novels, the candid narrative encompasses the country and conditions faced by a woman riding alone through treacherous times and climes. Her journey is one of astounding natural beauty, appalling solitude and severe, rigorous winter weather, all the more amazing as completed by a woman told to travel by her doctors “for her health.”

A Rocky Mountain Lady is an absorbing hour’s journey through the past of the Pikes Peak High Country. It is written and performed by Florissant resident Christine Ford, a freelance author, photographer, and lover of local history. Along with her husband, broker John Lloyd Magoon, she is co-owner and marketing director of High Country Realty and www.OhGetMeAHome.com in beautiful downtown Florissant, Colorado. John and Christine live and work, with their rock hound, Mercy, on the banks of Twin Creek in the shadow of Fortification Hill. 

The Pikes Peak Historical Society invites you to learn more about Isabella Bird and her travels through the Colorado high country on Sunday, May 15th, at their monthly Chautauqua (free program), at 2:00 pm at the Florissant Library.  The Library is located adjacent to the Florissant Community Park. This program is presented as a public service of the Pikes Peak Historical Society. Admission is free and refreshments are served.  No reservation is required but arrive early, seating is limited. For more information call 719-748-8259 or 719-748-3861.