Aspenglen Campground: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Rocky Mountain National Park
Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. (contractor) and NPS Staff. 2021. Aspenglen Campground: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Rocky Mountain National Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 890022. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. NPS Intermountain Regional Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: Aspenglen Campground is a component landscape in Rocky Mountain National Park (ROMO) in Larimer County, Colorado. The campground is east of the Continental Divide and adjacent to the eastern boundary of the park, south of the Fall River Entrance Station and Visitor Center. The inventory unit encompasses 53.28 acres and includes the campsites, loop roads, accompanying buildings, Aspenglen Campground Road, and natural features such as the Fall River. The park developed Aspenglen as a campground as soon as the land was acquired in 1923, and it opened to the public in 1924. Aspenglen Campground is one of five developed campgrounds in ROMO and operates seasonally, generally from late May through late September. Aspenglen Campground is not eligible for listing in the NRHP because it has lost a substantial amount of integrity from the period of significance, 1924–1967, as a result of large-scale alterations made after the Lawn Lake Flood in 1982. The period of significance encompasses the campground’s establishment through the end of Mission 66-era developments in the campground. Overall, most of the campground’s extant topography, spatial organization, circulation, buildings and structures, and small-scale features date to after 1982, and therefore no longer retain integrity from the period of significance. The campground’s integrity of natural systems and features and vegetation is diminished as well. It is recommended that Aspenglen’s cultural landscape should be reexamined in 2032, 50 years after the Lawn Lake Flood and subsequent campground changes. Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. was contracted by the NPS in June 2019. Commonwealth staff, John Rasmussen and Katie Remensnyder, conducted field survey from July 29 through August 2, 2019. This CLI was completed with assistance from ROMO staff, including Sheri Fedorchak, Daniel Jackson, Rose Lang, Kelly Dick, Cheri Yost, Emilio Santiago, and Bob Maitland, with review by IMR CLI Coordinator Allison Kennedy. Superintendent Darla Sidles concurred with the CLI findings on April 14, 2021. The Colorado State Historic Preservation Office provided concurrence on May 27, 2021.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. (contractor); NPS Staff
- Date of Issue
- 2021-04-14
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- IMR , ROMO
- Keywords
- amphitheater, campground, CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, Colorado, designed landscape, Fall River, flood, lawn lake flood, Mission 66, montane, recreation, rustic style, UNESCO Biophere Reserve
- Subjects
- NPS.gov Subject Site: Cultural Landscapes