Journal 12: Cabins, Covenants, and Community

As a community grows, so does the need for reasonable structure, collaboration, and shared expectations. Pinehaven's HOA provides a framework for collaboration, ensuring decisions reflect the collective good rather than individual convenience. With clear governing documents in place, neighbors can protect what they love while planning wisely for the future.

One snowy March morning, three cabin owners in Pinehaven, Tom, Linda, and the newly retired Bakers, woke to find their driveways freshly plowed and the main road cleared, thanks to a coordinated effort by the homeowners’ association. Just weeks earlier, the HOA had voted to contract a local service for snow removal after a series of heavy storms left residents stranded for days. That same year, the HOA hosted a wildfire mitigation day, where volunteers trimmed overgrown trees and cleared brush around cabins, guided by a Forest Service rep invited by the board. And when a bold black bear started making regular visits near the picnic pavilion, the HOA posted wildlife safety signs, replaced unsecured trash bins, and shared tips in the community newsletter. It wasn’t flashy, but these behind-the-scenes efforts helped keep Pinehaven safe, accessible, and just wild enough.

Navigating the Stretch Marks of Growth

As Pinehaven grew a sense of community began to deepen. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, residents felt the need to formalize their shared vision and values by creating a homeowners’ association and establishing bylaws that would guide the neighborhood into the future. On August 10, 1978, a warranty deed transferred ownership of numerous lots within the Pinehaven development from private individuals (the Pierottis) to a corporation (Pinehaven, Inc.) for development or investment purposes.(1)  The deed affirmed the Pierottis held clear title to the properties and guaranteed to defend Pinehaven, Inc.’s ownership against any future claims. It was a key transaction in the formation and expansion of the Pinehaven community. Now Pinehaven had its own homeowner’s association to steward the community and foster a tight-knit atmosphere among cabin owners.

These efforts became the foundation of today’s Pinehaven Property Owners group. Every July, neighbors gather for an annual picnic and business meeting, a tradition that continues to keep the community spirit alive. You can access Pinehaven's bylaws on the resource page at this link. 

High-Tech in High Country

One of Pinehaven’s most striking contradictions is this: it’s a place where you can sip coffee on a deck surrounded by whispering pines in a forest a hundred miles from a large city, and stream a Zoom meeting in crystal-clear HD at the same time. In a community built for slow living, the arrival of blazing-fast internet is nothing short of astonishing.

Thanks to a marvel of modern engineering called fiber optics, which uses tiny strands of glass, thinner than a human hair, to send pulses of light carrying massive amounts of data, Pinehaven is now connected to the digital world at 21st-century speeds.

In 2023, Jade Communications began threading this high-speed lifeline up the mountainside from La Veta, extending it through Cuchara and into the heart of Pinehaven.  The result? A once-remote wilderness now offers internet connectivity so fast, you could be working remotely with the same bandwidth and efficiency as a tech firm in downtown Denver. It’s a paradox that would make the old homesteaders blink; a cabin in the woods, and the world at your fingertips.

The image to the right shows the roads and cabins in the Pinehaven community at the time of this writing. 

Progress Without Compromise

Today, Pinehaven is a living paradox; a place where nature and technology coexist, where rustic charm meets reliable infrastructure, and where the scent of ponderosa pines float past cabins equipped with high-speed internet. Gravel roads may still wind through the trees, but beneath them lies a latticework of pipes, wires, and fiber, each one a quiet tribute to the vision and tenacity of those who built this community.

In many ways, Pinehaven hasn’t changed at all. The birds still sing at dawn. The creek still murmurs through the gulch. Neighbors still gather each summer at the Pierotti Pavillion for potlucks and shared stories. And yet, just beneath the surface, the invisible veins of modern life like water, power, and data flow steadily, enabling a quality of life our founding residents could scarcely have imagined.

Pinehaven's journey is not just about infrastructure, it’s about intention. It’s about choosing to build a place where the conveniences of modern life serve the spirit of mountain living insead of trying to replace it. That’s the soul of Pinehaven. And that’s the legacy it continues to write, one quiet improvement at a time.(2)

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Footnotes

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

1. Warranty Deed from Steve Pierotti and Anna Pierotti to Pinehaven, Inc., August 10, 1978, recorded in Book 352, Page 222, Document ID General-352-222, Huerfano County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, Walsenburg, Colorado, accessed at www.thecountyrecorder.com. 

2. 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