| Cherokee Ranch | |
| Coordinates: | 39.4575°N -104.9388°W |
| Built: | 1868, 1926-28 |
| Builder: | John Blunt; et al. |
| Architecture: | Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals |
| Added: | October 21, 1994 |
| Area: | 3280acres |
| Refnum: | 94001228 |
Cherokee Ranch, in Douglas County, Colorado near Sedalia, has been a purebred cattle ranch since 1954, including raising Santa Gertrudis cattle. The ranch is private property but offers frequent public and private events and tours.[1] The property overlaps with portions of the Cherokee Ranch petrified forest.[2]
A large portion of the ranch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The listing included 19 contributing buildings, five contributing structures, a contributing site, and a contributing object on 3280acres. The buildings are distributed among four historic building groups created by two homesteaders and a rich heiress. The four groups are:
The first part of the property eventually assembled was 160acres homesteaded by Maine-born John E. Blunt. A former Union soldier, he arrived with his family in 1868 from Kansas in a covered wagon which brought apple tree slips. He settled on land along East Plum Creek at homestead site now on the south side of U.S. Highway 85. It was extremely cold in winters along the creek, so they moved to higher ground in 1873 and built a wood-frame house at the current location of ranch headquarters. An original apple tree brought to the new site survived in 1994. Blunt acquired others' homestead properties and eventually what he called Sunflower Ranch had 1550acres on which he farmed wheat, sorghum, and steers. The ranch was sold by Ray Blunt in 1954 to Mildred Montague Genevieve Kimball, known as "Tweet", who chose to call it Amnicola after her property in Chattanooga on the Tennessee River.
Tweet Kimball, known as "a delightfully eccentric international traveler, philanthropist, equestrian, award-winning cattlewoman and legendary hostess", lived 55 years in Cherokee Castle.[3]
Her first of four husbands was Merritt Kirk Ruddock, of aristocratic family and C.I.A. connections.[4]
The ranch has 4185acres on both south and north of U.S. Highway 85, but the listing is limited to the property north of 85, which includes four historic building groups. The four are:
The listing covers property north of U.S. Route 85 and south of Daniels Park Road.[6]