"The whole family is extremely proud of Mom’s induction into the Denver Public Library Hall of Fame."”

Honorable Gary Jackson

GILPIN COUNTY — She was a writer, an advocate for social justice, a teacher, a woman committed to her community and her church, an election officer (for over 50 years), daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, friend, and so much more. 

Nancelia E. Scott Jackson was born in 1924. She passed away in 2024. She lived in Cherry Creek, Colorado, in her family homes at Third and Garfield from 1926 to 2024, and was known as the “Grand Dame of Cherry Creek” for being a pillar of the community.

As an African American woman whose life reached just shy of her 100th birthday, she saw and experienced many thought-provoking, difficult, and joyful times in United States and world history.

She lived a life of civic engagement and was dedicated to preserving Black history. 

Jackson’s grandfather, William Pitts, who was born into slavery, built a cabin for his family at Lincoln Hills in Gilpin County. The Zephyr View cabin became a family mountain retreat for generations and continues to this day. 

As a young teenager, Jackson started to chronicle her life in Cherry Creek and the time she spent at Lincoln Hills. She attended Camp Nizhoni at Lincoln Hills with other Black girls. A firsthand account from the late 1930s from a camp for Black girls in Gilpin County, Colorado, is invaluable to United States history. Jackson’s writings are priceless. 

Established in the 1920s, Lincoln Hills was the only Black-owned resort in the Mountain West. This was the Jim Crow Era and segregation was the norm then and for decades to come. Jackson wrote in her diary about taking the “Dinky” train from Denver to Lincoln Hills as a teenager.

For many years, when coming by car, African Americans knew they could not stop in Wondervu or Rollinsville, it was too dangerous. Pinecliffe was a town in the mountains that was deemed safe for them.  During this time Lincoln Hills was a place where African Americans could truly breathe. 

For kids to be able to come to the mountains and attend a camp in the summer or be in a cabin with their family and away from the “Whites Only” signs—if only for a week—it was empowering and it was freeing. 

Jackson had an impactful presence on the Black community in Denver and at Lincoln Hills. It continues through her family. 

Her son, the Honorable Gary Jackson, says of his mom’s honor, “The whole family is extremely proud of Mom’s induction into the Denver Public Library Hall of Fame. Since her liberating trip on the Dinky train to Camp Nizhoni in 1939 at age 13, Mom has been a trailblazer. From her role as the Grand Dame of North Cherry Creek to being the inner strength of the family’s maintenance of the family cabin in Lincoln Hills for 100 years, Mom has led us with her value system of perseverance, hard work and faith. We are all joyful.”

Congratulations to Nancelia Scott Jackson’s entire family. They stand on strong shoulders and carry a legacy of resilience and hope. 

Nancelia E. Scott Jackson will be inducted into the Denver Public Library Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame on February 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the Denver Central Library. The Denver Central Library is located at 10 W. 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver.