The Trinidad History Museum, a complex that includes three separate museums and a garden, represents the most significant aspects of Trinidad's history. Felipe Baca was a prominent Hispanic farmer and businessman whose 1870s residence, Baca House, has period furnishings. Displays convey a mix of Anglo (clothes, furniture) and local Hispanic (santos, textiles) influences. Next door, Bloom Mansion is an interesting contrast to the Baca House. Frank Bloom made his money through ranching and banking, and although he was no wealthier than Baca, his mansion (built in 1882) reveals a very different lifestyle. Using rail transportation, he was able to fill his ornate Second Empire-style Victorian (with mansard roof and elaborate wrought ironwork) with fine furnishings and fabrics brought from the East Coast and abroad. The adjacent Santa Fe Trail Museum is dedicated to the effect of the trail and railroad on the community. Inside are exhibits covering the heyday of Trinidad as a commercial and cultural center, up through the 1920s. Finish up with a stop in the Kitchen Garden, filled with native plants and century-old grapevines similar to those tended by the pioneers. The museum is a property of the Colorado Historical Society.
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