Crestone, Colorado facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Crestone, Colorado
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| Town of Crestone | |
Welcome sign on Birch Street,
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Location of the Town of Crestone in the Saguache County, Colorado.
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 Crestone, Colorado
Location in the United States
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  Colorado |
| County | Saguache County |
| Incorporated | January 24, 1902 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Statutory Town |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.385 sq mi (0.996 km2) |
| • Land | 0.385 sq mi (0.996 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0.000 km2) |
| Elevation | 7,923 ft (2,415 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 141 |
| • Density | 367/sq mi (142/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−07:00 (MST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−06:00 (MDT) |
| ZIP Code |
81131
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| Area code(s) | 719 |
| FIPS code | 08-18420 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0192409 |
| Highways | Take County Road T 12 miles east from State Highway 17 at Moffat |
The Town of Crestone is a small town in Saguache County, Colorado. In 2020, about 141 people lived there. Crestone is located at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Range mountains. It sits in the northern part of the San Luis Valley.
Crestone was first planned out in 1880 by George Adams. He owned the nearby Baca Grant land. In the 1970s, a large land development called Baca Grande was started on this land. Many homes have been built there since then.
The Crestone area, including Baca Grande and Moffat, Colorado, is known as a special place for many different religions. You can find a Hindu temple, a Zen center, and several Tibetan Buddhist centers here. This spiritual growth was largely inspired by Hanne and Maurice Strong in the 1970s. They wanted to create a place where different faiths could come together.
Crestone gets its name from two tall mountains nearby: Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. These mountains are called "Fourteeners" because they are over 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) high. The name "Crestone" comes from the Spanish word crestón. This word can mean "the top of a cock's comb," "the crest of a helmet," or, for miners, "a rock sticking out of the ground."
Contents
Crestone's Past: A Brief History
The first people settled in the Crestone area after the American Civil War. This happened when a large piece of land, called the Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4, was given to a family in 1860. This land was about 12.5 miles (20 km) wide on each side.
The Baca family used the land for ranching, raising prize Hereford cattle. It was one of the first large areas in the West to be fenced. People also did some mining in the mountains east and south of Crestone, looking for small amounts of gold.
In 1880, George Adams, who owned the Baca Grant, planned out the town of Crestone. Around 1900, Adams tried to start a small mining boom. He reopened a gold mine and built a railroad line to the town and the mines. However, there wasn't much good gold, so the boom didn't last long. After that, the town's population slowly decreased.
By 1971, the Baca Grant land was bought by a company. They divided part of it into many smaller lots, creating the Baca Grande. This new area was planned for about 10,000 homes. They built roads and put in underground pipes for water and power. But not many people bought the lots.
In 1979, Maurice Strong and his fiancée, Hanne Marstrand, became interested in the area. They loved it and decided to create a world spiritual center there. They started giving land to different religious groups. This helped the population grow again. By 2006, hundreds of homes were built, and many small spiritual communities were living in the area. Crestone became the main business center for these communities.
Where is Crestone? (Geography)
Crestone is located in south-central Colorado, in the San Luis Valley. It sits on a flat area of land formed by North Crestone Creek. This area usually has plenty of water. However, during long dry periods, the creek can dry up, and underground water levels might drop.
The town covers about 0.996 square kilometers (0.385 square miles) of land.
How to Get to Crestone
Saguache County Road T is the main road that leads into Crestone. It's a county road, meaning it's managed by the county. This road goes across the valley. It is paved for about 12.5 miles (20 km) from Moffat, Colorado east to Crestone. The eastern part of Road T also forms the northern edge of the Baca National Wildlife Refuge.
Nearby Public Lands
The mountains east of Crestone are part of the Rio Grande National Forest. This includes a section of the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, a protected natural area. The public lands at the base of the mountains, including the forests around Crestone, are managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management. These offices work together in Saguache, Colorado, which is the county seat.
Crestone's Weather
Crestone has a climate with warm summers and cold winters. You can see more details about the temperatures and rainfall in the chart below.
| Climate data for Crestone, Colorado (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1982–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 59 (15) |
65 (18) |
74 (23) |
80 (27) |
96 (36) |
95 (35) |
98 (37) |
93 (34) |
90 (32) |
82 (28) |
68 (20) |
59 (15) |
98 (37) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 47.2 (8.4) |
52.0 (11.1) |
64.8 (18.2) |
72.5 (22.5) |
81.0 (27.2) |
89.2 (31.8) |
91.3 (32.9) |
87.9 (31.1) |
83.6 (28.7) |
75.0 (23.9) |
60.4 (15.8) |
49.3 (9.6) |
92.2 (33.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 33.0 (0.6) |
38.5 (3.6) |
48.8 (9.3) |
56.6 (13.7) |
66.5 (19.2) |
77.6 (25.3) |
81.5 (27.5) |
78.7 (25.9) |
71.9 (22.2) |
59.7 (15.4) |
44.8 (7.1) |
33.4 (0.8) |
57.6 (14.2) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 21.1 (−6.1) |
26.6 (−3.0) |
35.5 (1.9) |
42.3 (5.7) |
51.4 (10.8) |
61.4 (16.3) |
65.5 (18.6) |
63.4 (17.4) |
56.7 (13.7) |
45.2 (7.3) |
32.1 (0.1) |
21.5 (−5.8) |
43.6 (6.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 9.2 (−12.7) |
14.7 (−9.6) |
22.3 (−5.4) |
28.0 (−2.2) |
36.2 (2.3) |
45.1 (7.3) |
49.6 (9.8) |
48.1 (8.9) |
41.5 (5.3) |
30.7 (−0.7) |
19.3 (−7.1) |
9.7 (−12.4) |
29.5 (−1.4) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −6.3 (−21.3) |
−2.6 (−19.2) |
5.4 (−14.8) |
14.1 (−9.9) |
23.6 (−4.7) |
33.7 (0.9) |
42.1 (5.6) |
40.7 (4.8) |
29.1 (−1.6) |
14.1 (−9.9) |
2.2 (−16.6) |
−6.6 (−21.4) |
−9.9 (−23.3) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −20 (−29) |
−22 (−30) |
−10 (−23) |
6 (−14) |
13 (−11) |
24 (−4) |
34 (1) |
34 (1) |
18 (−8) |
0 (−18) |
−11 (−24) |
−18 (−28) |
−22 (−30) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.50 (13) |
0.48 (12) |
0.99 (25) |
1.07 (27) |
1.15 (29) |
0.83 (21) |
2.11 (54) |
1.91 (49) |
1.24 (31) |
0.91 (23) |
0.66 (17) |
0.58 (15) |
12.43 (316) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 8.0 (20) |
7.7 (20) |
9.3 (24) |
10.8 (27) |
2.5 (6.4) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
3.9 (9.9) |
7.0 (18) |
9.4 (24) |
58.6 (149) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 5.2 | 5.4 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 7.6 | 5.9 | 13.0 | 12.4 | 8.0 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 5.6 | 86.2 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 5.6 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 4.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 3.6 | 6.1 | 33.8 |
| Source: NOAA | |||||||||||||
People of Crestone (Demographics)
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1910 | 231 | — | |
| 1920 | 74 | −68.0% | |
| 1930 | 86 | 16.2% | |
| 1940 | 172 | 100.0% | |
| 1950 | 72 | −58.1% | |
| 1960 | 51 | −29.2% | |
| 1970 | 34 | −33.3% | |
| 1980 | 54 | 58.8% | |
| 1990 | 39 | −27.8% | |
| 2000 | 73 | 87.2% | |
| 2010 | 127 | 74.0% | |
| 2020 | 141 | 11.0% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
The numbers above show the population of Crestone itself. However, about half of the homes in Crestone are used only part-time, like for vacations. The larger Crestone community includes many more homes in the Baca Grande area. It also includes the surrounding countryside and the small town of Moffat, Colorado.
The Moffat School District runs a public school in Moffat. There is also the Crestone Charter School in Crestone.
Spiritual and Learning Centers
Crestone is known around the world as a place for many different religious and spiritual groups. Helping spiritual visitors and eco-tourists is a big part of Crestone's economy. This growth as a spiritual and learning hub began with Maurice Strong, a successful businessman and United Nations leader, and his wife, Hanne Marstrand Strong.
They used land from companies Strong owned to create the Manitou Foundation. This foundation helps support religious and spiritual projects in the Crestone area. They have given land to several spiritual and learning centers.
Crestone is one of the few places in the United States where open-air ceremonies for the deceased are allowed.
Here are some of the spiritual centers in Crestone:
| Religion | Organization | Type |
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| Buddhist (Zen) | Crestone Mountain Zen Center | Sōtō |
| Buddhist (Tibetan) | ||
| Dharma Ocean Retreat Center | Karma Kagyu | |
| Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang | Karma Kagyu | |
| Mangala Shri Bhuti | Nyingma | |
| Vajra Vidya | Karma Kagyu | |
| Yeshe Khorlo | Nyingma | |
| Yeshe Rangsal Retreat Center | Drukpa Kagyu | |
| Hindu | Haidakhandi Universal Ashram | Haidakhan Babaji |
| Sri Aurobindo Learning Center | Sri Aurobindo | |
| Temple of Consciousness Ashram | Humanity in Unity | |
| Other | Academy of On | Academy of On |
| The Shumei International Institute in Crestone Colorado | Shumei International Institute | |
| Chamma Ling | Bön |
Here are some other important learning and spiritual places:
| Type of Organization | Organization | Focus |
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| Nonprofit organization | Manitou Foundation and Manitou Institute | Supports spiritual projects |
| Learning group | Lindisfarne Association | Spiritual and cultural studies |
| Learning group | Aspen Institute | Ideas and leadership |
| College campus | Baca Campus of Colorado College | Higher education |
| Christian | The Spiritual Life Institute and Nada Hermitage Retreat Center | Roman Catholic (Carmelite) |
| Elementary and High School | The Crestone Charter School | Charter School |
Community Services
The Crestone Volunteer Fire Department and the Baca-Crestone Ambulance Service provide emergency help for Crestone and Baca Grande.
The Crestone End of Life Project is a local group that helps people with end-of-life planning. They offer support to the community.
Fun Events and Markets
Crestone hosts the Annual San Luis Valley Energy Fair every year on Labor Day weekend. This fair shows off ideas and products for living in an environmentally friendly way, like solar power. You can also find food and local products there.
In early October, Crestone has an Artists Open Studio Tour. This lets you visit the studios of many local artists. During the summer, there's a Saturday Market in Little Pearl Park. Here you can find food and local products. Crestone also has a "free box" where people can share items with the community.
Wildlife in Crestone
Crestone is home to many wild animals. You'll often see Mule deer grazing in people's yards. Black bears are also common, especially at night. They sometimes look for food in apple trees and trash cans.
See also
In Spanish: Crestone para niños
