City Invites Ideas for Interpretive Experience on Land Connected to Sand Creek Massacre

The City of Boulder invites community members to share ideas for what stories should be told and interpreted along a planned “healing trail” for the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm site, one of the city’s most historically significant open space areas.

The idea for the healing trail was developed in collaboration with the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives during a previous planning process and identified in the site’s concept plan. The concept plan provides recommendations for how the city will care for land with a community connection to the Sand Creek Massacre. Community input will guide the design of an “interpretative experience” for the healing trail, a place for education, reflection, healing, gathering and native plantings.

The city will host a community workshop and has created an online form to welcome ideas and stories for what should be told along the healing trail. The healing trail and its interpretive experience is a key component of the concept plan that is guided by a shared city-Tribal Representative vision of “Heal the Land; Heal the People.”

Community members can share their ideas and perspectives for what should be interpreted along the healing trail through:

• A community workshop that will be facilitated by Ernest House Jr., director of the Center for Tribal and Indigenous Engagement at the Keystone Policy Center. It will be held from 3 to 5 p.m., Friday, March 21, at Boulder Council Chambers, 1777 Broadway.
• An online submission form that will accept ideas and stories for the healing trail through Sunday, March 30.

Perspectives of the Past and Future
The city welcomes ideas for the healing trail on the historically and culturally important open space area near 63rd Street and Jay Road, including perspectives on:

• The land’s important historical, ecological and agricultural characteristics.
• The early history of Boulder and the historic Valmont area northeast of Boulder.
• Events and community perspectives about Fort Chambers, which likely stood on the land. In August 1864, more than 100 Boulder-area volunteers trained at Fort Chambers before taking part in the killing of 230 Arapaho and Cheyenne People promised military protection at the Sand Creek Massacre on Nov. 29, 1864. Prior to the massacre, men from the Boulder County-based Company D attacked a Cheyenne camp near present-day Sterling (“Buffalo Springs”) on Oct. 10, 1864, killing four Cheyenne women, three men, two babies, and one boy.
• Viewpoints and reflections to interpret an inaccurate stone marker that marked the location of Fort Chambers and was erected in 1959.
• The Queen Anne Victorian home on the land. The house and the adjacent area are on the National Register of Historic Places and operated as the Boulder County Poor Farm between 1902 and 1918. It was used to help care for less fortunate people, older and sick community members, and people experiencing physical and mental disabilities.
• Indigenous perspectives on how interpretative elements and culturally relevant nature connections to the land could foster healing and respect among city, tribal and Indigenous communities now and into the future.

The city and Tribal Representatives recognize the importance of telling a broad story of the land and welcome all perspectives, including those of Indigenous Peoples and settler descendants, to help foster meaningful dialogue and strengthen relationships among Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Boulder-area communities. Old photographs, diary entries, and historical writings are also welcomed to help us broaden our understanding of Boulder’s history and the land.

Next Steps
Afterwards, all input will be compiled and presented in future conversations to help shape the creative vision for the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm property’s Healing Trail. Learn more about the process OSMP has developed to create a healing, welcoming and informative experience along the planned healing trail.