Journal 78: From Ranch Driveway to Main Street: The Origins of Cuchara Avenue

The idea that Cuchara Village’s “main street” began with cows and hay wagons with no intention of ever becoming charming may come as a surprise. Cuchara Avenue, the short and walkable heart of the mountain community of Cuchara, Colorado, did not begin as a town street at all. It was someone’s driveway. Let me explain.

A road now measured in shop windows and restaurants once measured success in how little it swallowed wagon wheels. The road’s origins reach back to the late nineteenth century, when it functioned as a dirt driveway serving the early agricultural activity of the W. J. Gould Ranch.

The ranch was founded by W. J. Gould, who settled in the Cucharas River valley during a period of agricultural expansion following the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Gould and his successors developed the property into a successful operation that combined open-range grazing with irrigated hay meadows. The ranch’s early buildings and corrals illustrate frontier ranching methods adapted to the semi-arid climate of southern Colorado. (1)  

Before There Was a Town

Why would a long driveway slowly become a road? The answer lies in patterns established long before Cuchara became a resort. Federal land survey plats and field notes from the late 1800s show access routes in the Cuchara Valley that predate resort-era development associated with Cuchara Camps. (2)   These unimproved roads followed practical terrain, gentle grades, water availability, and winter survivability rather than civic design. Such routes were common among ranch access roads in southern Colorado during this period. (3).  

William J. Gould was among the early ranchers and landholders in the valley, and the road that would later become Cuchara Avenue served as a primary approach to his ranch and residence. At this stage, the road’s purpose was utilitarian: moving people, livestock, hay, and supplies rather than visitors or commerce. Back then, no one was browsing, lingering, or window-shopping, unless the window belonged to a barn.

That modest road was more than a simple ranch access. It linked the property to the main dirt artery running north and south, a route that would evolve over time into Colorado State Highway 111 and, later, today’s Highway 12, celebrated as the Highway of Legends Scenic Byway. (4)  

From Ranch Access to Resort Welcome

Although often described in local histories as a direct 1906 purchase from W. J. Gould, county records reveal a more complex transaction. The former W. J. Gould Ranch passed first to Charles M. Mack in 1907 under a privately financed arrangement that allowed George A. Mayes to begin developing the property, while legal title remained with Mack until it was conveyed to Mayes by warranty deed in 1910. (5)   Drawn to the restorative promise of the mountains, Mayes and his wife relocated to Cuchara in 1908 to improve his health. There, he set about transforming the rugged landscape into Cuchara Camps, a summer retreat designed to showcase the valley’s natural beauty and refreshingly cool climate. By 1911, Mayes’s vision had moved from idea to reality. The old road was repurposed as the primary entrance to Cuchara Camps, welcoming visitors into what had become a thriving high-country retreat and a defining landmark in the early resort history of Cuchara.

The large home was soon transformed into a hotel, complete with a modest dining room for guests, while cabins and service buildings began to line the road. What had once been a private ranch access quietly reinvented itself as the resort’s main entrance and then as the emerging main street of Cuchara Camps. (6)   Without ceremony or proclamation, the road accepted a promotion it had never applied for.

Studying century-old photographs of Cuchara Camps can be deceptively challenging. The buildings are there on paper, but translating those faded images into today’s streetscape and understanding where things once stood in relation to what we see now, takes more than photographs and maps. That’s when history comes alive most vividly for me: walking the ground with people who remember it as it was.

Bruce Johnson is one of those rare storytellers. A longtime Cuchara resident, Bruce not only remembers where the old buildings stood, but was inside some of them as a child. His recollections are precise, grounded, and remarkably clear, and he has a gift for snapping the past into focus. On a recent day, I met Bruce along Cuchara Avenue and recorded our walk together.(7)  

In the short video above, Bruce points out the exact locations of places that no longer exist: where the Cuchara Camps hotel and dining rooms once welcomed guests, where the dance and recreation hall stood, and precisely where the old W. J. Gould Ranch house sat. He shows where the Chuck Wagon restaurant once stood before it burned down, and how The Timbers later rose on a larger footprint. These aren’t memories drawn from documents or diagrams, they are lived experiences. And in sharing them, Bruce helps anchor the story of Cuchara Avenue not just in history, but in the ground beneath our feet.

When the Road Finally Got a Name

The transformation of the camp’s entrance from a private road into something more official began quietly, but decisively, in January 1916. As Cuchara Camps grew in size and stature, the U.S. Post Office took notice and established a dedicated Cuchara Camps post office. Nona Mayes, wife of founder George Mayes, was appointed its first postmaster. (8)   The small post office was named, “Cuchara Camps” and was located directly along the main camp road. With mail now arriving daily, the once-informal entrance could no longer remain anonymous. (9) To be recognized by the postal service, the road itself needed a name, an early and telling step toward its eventual identity as a public street. What had once been an unnamed entrance now had an identity: Cuchara Avenue. (10) The road’s original and only historic name was Cuchara Avenue. The “East” designation appears to have been added much later as part of a modern addressing and mapping update, not as part of the street’s original identity.

Over the years the road’s alignment remained largely unchanged. What evolved was its function: from ranch access, to resort promenade, to civic main street.

While researching this article, I wondered what William Gould would think if he could step forward in time and catch a glimpse of his old dirt driveway a century later. In his wildest imaginings, could he have foreseen a widened, paved road lined with restaurants, gift shops, and small businesses where his ranch entrance once lay quiet? Would he have imagined families traveling from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and across Colorado, lingering for hours to laugh together, eat together, and make memories along the very stretch of road that once led only to his home?

And could he have pictured a Fourth of July parade inching its way down that same dusty path with floats rolling by, polished cars honking, candy flying through the air as children cheered from the sidelines? The answer is unequivocally no.

What he could not have imagined has become Cuchara Avenue, and even now it invites a larger question. As we marvel at what has grown from that simple ranch road, we are left to wonder what it will become for our children’s children. May they look back and find that we, too, were faithful stewards of this special place.

The Road That Outlasted the Buildings

Throughout the twentieth century, Cuchara’s most recognizable gathering places like the Cuchara Camps dining hall, the Chuck Wagon restaurant, and later The Timbers—rose and fell in different buildings, yet all shared a common frontage along what would become Cuchara Avenue. Though the structures changed, the road itself remained the thread that tied Cuchara’s social life together.

What began as a dirt access road leading privately into the W. J. Gould Ranch has since evolved into Cuchara’s main street. Now paved and proudly known as Cuchara Avenue, it forms the commercial and cultural spine of the village. Along this short but storied stretch are the businesses locals cherish and visitors seek out. The shops, restaurants, and lodgings continue the tradition of welcome and hospitality. Today, that legacy lives on through places such as Dakota Dukes, Cuchara Country Store, The Bear’s Den, Cucharas River B&B, and the Dog Bar & Grill. It endures through places like the Cuchara Yacht Club, The Timbers Steaks and Spirits, Lokal Perks Coffee, Cuchara Lokal Inn, Dodgeton Creek Inn, Cucharas River Bed and Breakfast, Cuchara Cabin & Condo Rentals, All Seasons Real Estate, and others. Each contributes its own chapter to a road that has quietly anchored Cuchara’s story for more than a century.

Why a Short Road Tells a Big Story

Cuchara Avenue’s history illustrates a broader pattern in Colorado mountain towns: infrastructure often precedes settlement identity. What began as a ranch road became a resort corridor and eventually the social heart of a community, not by redesign, but by reuse.

In that sense, Cuchara Avenue is more than a street. It is a living artifact, preserving in its very alignment the transition of the Cuchara Valley from ranchland to resort to enduring mountain community. So long as footsteps fall along its length, Cuchara Avenue will remain what it has always been. It is more than a road; it’s the spine of memory and belonging, drawing people back to a place they call home.(11)

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Footnotes

Parenthetical numbers in the text (e.g., 5) correspond to the sequentially numbered citations listed below.

1.  Nancy Christofferson, “Way Back When in Cuchara Camps,” The World Journal (Walsenburg, CO), July 7, 2011, accessed December 24, 2025, https://worldjournalnewspaper.com/way-back-when-in-cuchara-camps/

2.  George R. Scott, Historic Trail Map of the Trinidad 1° × 2° Quadrangle, Colorado (U.S. Geological Survey, 2001), explains that “the original General Land Office (GLO) land plats” and surveyors’ field notes were among the “most reliable sources” for identifying and locating trails in the Trinidad quadrangle, and that many trails on the map were ultimately plotted from “land plats made from 1869 to 1882.” Accessed December 24, 2025. https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i-2745/i-2745pam.pdf 

3.   U.S. General Land Office, Survey Plats, Bureau of Land Management, accessed December 24, 2025, https://glorecords.blm.gov. 

4. Gene & Rhonda Roncone, “Journal 66: The Ever-Evolving Road to Pinehaven,” Cabin in the Pines (blog), June 1, 2020, accessed December 24, 2025, https://cabininthepinescuchara.blogspot.com/2020/06/journal-66-ever-evolving-road-to.html.

5.  Although often described in local histories as a direct 1906 purchase from William J. Gould, county records reveal a more complex transaction. George A. Mayes did not acquire the former Gould Ranch through a single, direct conveyance from Gould, but through a two-stage, privately financed arrangement. In October 1907, William J. Gould and his wife conveyed the ranch to Charles M. Mack by warranty deed. Mack subsequently entered into a seller-financed purchase agreement with Mayes, retaining legal title while Mayes assumed possession and began development of the property, as evidenced by contemporaneous mortgage and deed of trust filings covering land described as Sections 3 and 4, Township 31 South, Range 69 West. Full legal ownership passed to Mayes on December 6, 1910, when Mack executed a warranty deed conveying title, completing the transaction.

6.  Nancy Christofferson, “Way Back When in Cuchara Camps,” The World Journal (Walsenburg, CO), July 7, 2011, accessed December 24, 2025, https://worldjournalnewspaper.com/way-back-when-in-cuchara-camps/.

7. Gene Roncone, oral history walking interview with Bruce Johnson, Cuchara Avenue, Cuchara, Colorado, December 29, 2025; video recorded on site during a guided walk identifying former Cuchara Camps structures and related historic locations. It can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnVuWzHGGuI

8. Huerfano County news (1916): “A post office is to be established at Cuchara Camps with Mrs. G.A. Mayes postmaster.”“Huerfano County Post Offices & Postmasters,” Huerfano County, Colorado, Karen Mitchell, accessed December 25, 2025, 

9.  Mitchell, Karen. "Huerfano County, Colorado History: The Century." Accessed June 7, 2025. https://www.kmitch.com/Huerfano/century.html. This source confirms that the “Cuchara Camps” post office was established in 1916, and providing historical context of the post office name being shortened to just “Cuchara” in 1957.

10.  A 1921 Huerfano County map shows a grid of small lots at “Cuchara Camps,” indicating the area was platted with blocks and streets by that time (though under county jurisdiction, as Cuchara was never an incorporated town). 

11. Author’s note: In preparing this article, the author used AI-assisted tools for research support, proofreading, fact-checking, and stylistic refinement. The narrative, analysis, and historical interpretations are the author’s own, and responsibility for accuracy rests solely with the author. The blog’s research methodology statement is available at: https://cabininthepinescuchara.blogspot.com/2019/03/methodology-sources-and-use-of-research.html