Museums of the San Luis Valley and Southern Colorado
The Museums of the San Luis Valley and Southern Colorado was established in 1998 to support the valley’s museums. The www.museumtrail.org website went live that same year, providing the first internet access for all the Valley’s museums.
This collaboration and the support from each museum have allowed these small, mostly volunteer-run museums to keep their doors open and continue their efforts to preserve, protect, and celebrate the history of the San Luis Valley and Southern Colorado.
The organization has grown from its original 12 member museums to 22 museums. In 2019 and 2020, it was happy to bring into its family neighboring Walsenburg museums the Walsenburg Mining Museum, Museum of Friends, and the Huerfano Historical Society. The addition of these three museums, plus the Francisco Fort Museum in La Veta, brings all the museums in Huerfano County into The Museums of the San Luis Valley and Southern Colorado.
Museum members from Huerfano County, plus the membership of the Hinsdale County Museum to the west of the San Luis Valley, support this organization’s larger mission of supporting those museums in Southern Colorado that wish to preserve the history of the people and cultures that have called this area home.
The Museums of the San Luis Valley and Southern Colorado also has the unique pleasure of including the La Verada del Norte Chapter of the Old Spanish Trail as its “outdoor museum.”
Museumtrail.org also supports and promotes the three scenic byways in this part of Colorado, including the Highway of Legends National Byway, the Los Caminos Antiguos Scenic and Historic Byway, and the Silver Thread Scenic Byway.
As the SLV Museum Association has expanded to include additional museums, it has updated its name as of 2020 to the Museums of the San Luis Valley and Southern Colorado.
Its mission is to support the MuseumTrail.org member museums in their efforts to celebrate, preserve, and promote the history of the San Luis Valley through its collections and in the study of the people, culture, places, and events of the San Luis Valley.
