Colorado Spirit Quest #152 - Virginia Dale Redux

The Virginia Dale Community Church Cemetery is located north of Fort Collins along Hwy 287 next to the Virginia Dale Community Church. The oldest grave is J.M. McCain who died July 4, 1885. He was only 41 years old.

The church was moved to this site in 1885. The original church was built of hand-hewn logs and was erected in 1880 near Deadman Creek. White clapboard siding and a vestibule were added later. On November 15, 2003, an arsonist fire destroyed the historic church. Volunteers from the community built the church that stands today. Services are still held on the 2nd Sunday of each month.

In the church there are several displays of artifacts from the original building.

The Virginia Dale Stage Station is located on private land at the end of CR 43F (Note: CR 43F is a dead-end road). If you’re interested in visiting the station, the link above to the Overland Trail provides directions.

There’s also an interesting bit of information about Lover’s Leap, a cliff along the county road. If you’re a romantic, take a few minutes to read it.

If you take the time to wander around, please be respectful of this historic site.

There is plenty of parking and a primitive “rest room.” There is a gate at the entrance so it is possible for the parking area to be unavailable, but you can still park near the entrance and walk to the cache.

"COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST"

The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of Caches started in 2008. Placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have 'walked' before us. There are hundreds of cemeteries in the rural and mountain communities across Colorado. This series will introduce you to many of them. The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the cemeteries and tombstones.

The Colorado Spirit Quest endeavor is an enormous and relentless task. It cannot be accomplished by just one or two people. This project will only flourish if there is a multitude of volunteer cachers willing to place these caches.

After locating the cache container, take some time to reflect back on the lives of those pioneers and the effort it took to make Colorado such a great state.

If you are interested in placing a "Colorado Spirit Quest" you should contact Ivy Dog Parents or Joe Friday.

Each person that places a Colorado Spirit Quest cache is responsible for its maintenance.