If you're traveling on I–25 and want to stop for a night in a historic town with character instead of a motel on the outskirts of a bigger city, check out Trinidad. Walk around Corazon de Trinidad, the downtown creative district area where some of the streets still have the original bricks—instead of pavement—and visit a few of the town's superb museums, a remarkably large number for a town of barely more than 8,000 residents.
Trinidad was founded in 1862 as a rest-and-repair station along the Santa Fe Trail. Starting in 1878 with the construction of the railroad and the development of the coal industry, the town grew and expanded, but the advent of natural gas, coupled with the Depression, led to a gradual decline in population. Since the 1990s there’s been a modest increase, though, and a major interest in the upkeep of the city's rich cultural heritage.
