How A Bygone Era Came to Life in a Colorado Mountain Town

By Donna Wichelman

Have you ever visited a place where you experienced that sense of having stepped into a picture postcard of a bygone era? Did you sigh, your body relaxing, as if you’d been transported into a time long ago when life seemed much simpler and the stresses and strains of daily routine melted away? Christmas in Georgetown, Colorado in December 2019 was that encounter for me.

If you’ve read my most recent blogs about Georgetown, Colorado, you know my historical romance, A Song of Deliverance just released yesterday, December 3, 2024. But in 2019, I wanted to become acquainted with what it might have felt like to experience Christmas in Georgetown in the 1870s during its silver mining heyday.

When weather forecasters predicted record snowfall totals for the Colorado mountains over that weekend, I couldn’t have ordered up a better weather outlook if I’d tried. So when my husband and I stepped onto Sixth Street, formerly known as Alpine Street in the 1870s, we thought we’d entered into a Thomas Kincaid painting.

Sixth Street Georgetown, Colorado Christmas Market--December 2019: Donna's Gallery

Madrigal Singers, Georgetown, Christmas Market--December 2019: Donna's Gallery

Georgetown has worked hard to keep its Victorian era character, passing ordinances maintaining the gingerbread architecture in the original part of town and buying up open space land to ensure the community isn’t overdeveloped. A 1986 John Denver film, The Christmas Gift, depicts a New York developer trying to purchase land and build condominiums and a golf course in Georgetown. The film was loosely based on a true story and reflects the generosity and neighborly spirit that continues to thrive in Georgetown. It has just that kind of “hometown” atmosphere, which is why generations of families have remained in the same houses over the last century and a half.

Each year, Historic Georgetown, Inc. holds its annual Christmas Market on the first two weekends of December. Similar to European Christmas markets, with the sights, sounds, and smells of handcrafted gifts and specialty food vendors, Georgetown's quaint atmosphere overflows with ambiance. This year will be its 64th annual year. The organization also welcomes guests to Christmas at the Hamill House for a traditional Christmas celebration as William A. Hamill and his wife Pricilla would have celebrated in the 1870s. Both events offer that magical spirit of joy in a timeless place.

Horse-drawn Wagon, Georgetown Christmas Market--December 2019: Donna's Gallery

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Children's Santa Lucia Parade, Georgetown Christmas Market--December 2019: Donna's Gallery

A Reading of the Night Before Christmas, Christmas at the Hamill House--December 2019: Donna's Gallery

Christmas at the Hamill House with St. Nicholas--December 2019: Donna's Gallery

During the Christmas Market, Historic Georgetown also opens its museums to the public. Hotel De Paris is one of Georgetown's premier landmarks. Louis Dupuy first opened the hotel in 1875 as a tiny "hole in the wall." But by the 1880s, he had transformed it into one of the most elegant Victorian hotels in the region, welcoming guests from all over the world--businessmen in the silver ore trade as well as tourists visiting the Rocky Mountains. Today, the hotel appears much as it did in the 1890s and is one of the best-preserved hotels in the nation.

Hotel De Paris, Georgetown, Colorado--December 2019: Donna's Gallery

 

Hotel Room, Hotel De Paris, Georgetown, Colorado: Donna's Gallery

Other museums include Alpine Hose #2, the Energy Museum, and the Old School House, built in 1874. The Old School House figures prominently in Rhythms of the Heart, Book Two of the Silver Singing Mine series that releases December 2, 2025. 

The Old School House, Georgetown, Colorado--October 2018: Donna's Gallery

Georgetown doesn’t promise nightclubs and the city high life, but it does provide a peek into a time when life was a little more relaxed, and the people knew their neighbor’s names. Historic Georgetown, Inc. invites you to step back in time for just a little while and enjoy what the town has to offer. For more information about the Georgetown Christmas Market and Christmas at the Hamill House, click here.

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending the United World College of the Atlantic--an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before writing full-time. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. Her Gilded Age historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, released on December 3, 2024.

Donna and her husband of forty years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.