The Thompson cabin in the first of 5 cabins on the grounds of The Historic Crescent Ranch Resort to be completely renovated and open for reservations. It is the largest, single cabin on the property only overshadowed by the middle cabin which is a duplex and has two lofts. We are excited to be able to take reservations right NOW – click here to check availability!

The Thompson Cabin is about 500 square feet. It has been completely renovated from the outside in. It is loaded inside with a memory foam, queen size bed, a full size couch, a recliner and chair. It has a bar table that seats four to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner and is situated near a 55″ LED Smart TV that is connected to our free WiFi.

The cabin also has a complete, vintage kitchen including a gas stove top, microwave, fridge, freezer and sink. We have included pots, pans, dishes and silverware as well as linens and an amazing view of Pike’s Peak!

Last but not least, the bathroom! It too is completely renovated and has a walk in shower, sink and commode. We have included towels, wash cloths, etc, but don’t forget to bring your soap and shampoo! As a VRBO, we do not include any food, personal hygiene items or refills on paper products that you may use.

The Ranch

The Historic Crescent Ranch Resort includes a working small animal farm (Vintage Life Farms). We have 9 goats, 45 chickens, and two beautiful Colorado Mountain Dogs (livestock guardian dogs keeping all wildlife away from our flocks) overseeing the operation when we cannot! While we have separated our “friends” from the cabins, you still may hear an occasional goat bleat, rooster crow or dog bark throughout the day. This isn’t for everyone, but if you like the idea of a vintage farm you just might fall in love!

The Process

We have learned a lot about the road ahead of us through the process of bringing this cabin back to life – and we have learned a lot about the history of this beautiful ranch as well. That history is what keeps us going through all the ups and downs – so here is the renovation story of what we affectionately call the Thompson Cabin.

Meet the Thompsons

While Silas and Atlanta Thompson were not the folks who received the original land patent for what is now The Historic Crescent Ranch Resort, they were the first to settle it. Atlanta, known as Attie, first came to what is now Florissant with her family as a young girl. They originally settled on what is now the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in 1872. As you can probably imagine, it was not an easy life – but her father was convinced that the clean air and high altitude would help relieve his health conditions. Which it did for a time. It also helped that he had an incurable infatuation with Pike’s Peak.

Silas came from Illinois to tend to his sick brother, Sam. According the Attie, Silas would shoot birds, boil them and give Sam the broth, expecting that it would cure him. Which it did. After six weeks, Sam was so much better that they were able to move into a small cabin. Silas didn’t talk much, but when he did, he had something to say. He was an avid hunter and great marksman. Together, he and Attie made a great pioneering team.

Eventually, Silas opened up a saw mill and Attie did her best to run a boarding house on the property. The cabins were for the laborers working the saw mill and the main house was used to board passers by. As mentioned, Silas was an avid hunter, but a reluctant business man. He made some good decisions, and some bad. Eventually, Attie showed him how to do it right and their lifestyle improved as a result. But, over time, her health began to decline. Among many other ailments, she eventually had to have one leg amputated due to infection that was misdiagnosed for years. Through all the hardships, there was a genuine love for the area that the two shared, and even as the couple went through the loss of 2 children to sickness, the harsh winters at 9200 feet – they remained together.

Silas’ love for the ranch was strong, but Attie had enough and the couple eventually bought property down in Manitou Springs. Attie stayed there and ran a boarding house while Silas continued to spend time up at the ranch. Over time, Silas had amassed nearly 2000 acres of land and lived the wild west life. Eventually, it came time to sell the property to an entity from back east called the Crescent Cattle Company who was attempting to build a cattle empire stretching from Divide to Leadville. While this was the end of the road for the Thompsons at the Crescent Ranch, the story would continue.

To read more about Silas and Attie, you can find her amazing book called “Daughter of a Pioneer” on Amazon – here

The Renovation

Fast-forward to 2019 when we purchased the 35 acre property that holds a portion of the history of the Thompsons’ original ranch – we knew we had our work cut out for us. So much so, that we didn’t plan on tackling the cabins until AFTER we had the lodge open. Well, those plans changed… and so did the work involved to get this place back to where it needed to be to open to the public.

The 4200 gallon cistern that was used to store the water for all the facilities on the property was a mess. And it was sitting on the second level of a building which had a very suspect floor. We knew we could not fill that thing up with a good conscience given that it would weigh in at a whopping 33,600 pounds! So that had to go and we brought in a brand new, 3200 gallon underground cistern with a constant pressure water pump that will keep water flowing to all the cabins safely and with some authority!

We found that the electrical was kind of a mess and knew the right thing to do was start over. So we installed a new main panel on one cabin and ran all new power lines to each cabin. Now, instead of one breaker box for all the cabins, each cabin has its’ own electrical panel with the proper wiring and grounding to make it safe.

The roofs were an awful mess. We could not possibly work on the insides until we knew that the outside would stay, well, outside. For those of you who don’t know, the winds up here in Divide can get a little forceful and we cannot count how many times we would be picking up pieces of asphalt roof shingles after a bout with the wind. We knew then that metal roofs were the ONLY option. So, we had the roofs completely redone with metal that should last our lifetime – and we have not had to pick up pieces of shingles since!

It took ALL of that just to get to the point where we could begin work in the cabin. Enough of that, on to the pictures!

We realized early on that the siding was in rough shape. As we looked closer, we knew, to do it right, we would have to re-sheath the whole building to help keep the wind and water outside where they were supposed to be. So, all the slab siding had to come off and new ZIP System sheathing had to be installed.

Once we had the cabin sheathed and sealed with tape, we popped some holes for the new windows and began putting up a mixture of new and old slab siding. We were hoping to use a LOT of the old siding and with the help of a pressure washer, we were able to salvage much of it. But, because the back of the cabin never had slab siding, we knew we were going to need some new wood to supplement. In the end, the blend of old and new turned out pretty nice!

With the outside all sealed up, barely before winter, we were able to really focus on the inside of the cabin – which was in equally bad shape, if not worse, than the outside.

As you can see, the living room had some gnarly, Christmas colored carpet. The kitchen side had linoleum that was being held down by duct tape and, well, honestly I can’t remember. The shower walls were gold flaked linoleum. There was as dropped ceiling with a few acoustic tiles. The walls were brown 4’x8′ panels. And on and on. Maybe the most entertaining part was when, while we were cutting holes in the 1×6’s that covered the inside of the house, we learned that the cabin walls were entirely insulated with saw dust! That wasn’t a fire hazard or anything!

We started in the bathroom and kitchen area. The floor was mostly rotten and the plumbing was in bad shape. In order to effectively fix the plumbing, the floor needed to come out. So that’s what we did. Out with the old and in with the new.

After we passed the plumbing base inspection, subfloor and Durock were put down.

As you can tell from the right side of this picture, the bathrooms were definitely an add-on. The white siding and framed in windows being the giveaway. We really wanted to keep the siding but, unfortunately, were unable to figure out a way to do it without compromising the safety and integrity of the cabin. Bummer.

Since the bathroom is not the largest known to man, we decided to put in Neo shower base in to make an easier path to the sink.

We really wanted to keep the rustic feel of this old cabin, but wanted to make sure the renovation would last. As we were searching for the tile, we came across this stuff. We can’t tell you how many people actually thought it was wood – and if that is you, surprise, it’s ceramic tile. We LOVE the way it turned out!

The living space was less dramatic, but still turned out great. We hung, taped, floated, textured and painted new drywall and then we sanded down the original wood floors. They are, by no means, perfect – but they turned out cool!

As you can see on the left hand side of the picture above, we are heating the cabin with a through wall, propane heater. This thing is amazing – it creates a nice, even heat throughout the room and is super efficient. This picture is a test run with the new memory foam bed in place – before we put a finish on the floor.

We put down 3 coats of Urethane on the floors, waited a week and began the finishing touches! This is a view from the bedroom to the kitchen and bathroom.

The kitchen has a good sized refrigerator, microwave, stove-top, sink, Keurig, coffee cups, glasses, bowls, plates, pots, pans, silverware and, hopefully, anything else you would need to make a nice meal during your stay!

The one thing we were able to salvage from the bathrooms were these cool sinks. Looking out passed the sink through windows in the kitchen and bathroom you will find amazing views of Pike’s Peak!

We have a TON more pictures, but that should give you an idea of how much love, time, blood, sweat and tears went into bringing this cabin back to life. And now you might be able to understand why, nearly a full 2 years later, in March of 2021, we are just now able to open this one single cabin. The process…

But we are motivated to keep on keeping on. The second cabin is more than half way done at this point and we hope to have it ready in the next month or two. In the meantime, we will share with you a quote from a book written by a man who grew up on the Historic Crescent Ranch back when the Crescent Cattle Company owned it. He made this comment when he was around 12 years old, in the early 1920’s, as he watched the Crescent Cattle Company fail at it’s dream to be a thriving ranching business. His dad was the land manager at the time and he wanted to see the Crescent Cattle Company come back strong, as it once was.

The Crescent Ranch was at one time made up of such romance, cowboys, guns at side, bucking horses, shouts of sheer ecstacy at being alive and able. Maybe some day it would by some magic come back again.

C.S. King, The Ever-reaching Hills

This is what it is all about. To experience the beginning of that “romance” – click here to check availability!