Alexander Joseph, Rollinsville. If the unincorporated area known as Rollinsville is a body of dirt roads and mountain homes, then it is safe to say its blood beating, life giving heart is the metal roofed, faded red, three story Stage Stop. According to the sign which hangs from the highway facing side, the Stage Stop was built in 1868. However, the newest owner of this building and of the local Gold Dirt Distillery, Judd Kaufman, says that in researching the building he and his wife have found pictures dated as early as 1862 in which the Stage Stop stands as prominently as it does today. So, as with many mountain things, when history is written in whiskey and wood smoke and stories and is rarely captured on paper or film, the exact history (which your correspondent initially came to find out) is really not the point.
It is 9:03 a.m. when Judd begins the tour of the building. The first thing I notice and which we discuss at length, are the wooden support beams and the rafters, all of which are the heavy duty original sort of 2x12, many of which are obviously hand hewn and seem strong enough to hold the world itself upright for many more years to come. This place feels old and sturdy and almost sacred. The second subject we come to is the ghost, Tom, who lives in the basement, and who may have been hung or maybe died in a police shootout during prohibition, an era which Judd hopes to emulate with his plans for a speak easy in Tom’s basement territory in the future.
Like walking into a container of the soul of North Gilpin Country, there is so much behind these metal plated and solid wooden walls. Over the next hour, your correspondent heard more ghost stories, saw rusty horseshoes nailed to the wall and three different styles of wallpaper all peeling and showing through in various sections, felt hunger for a plate of the future kitchen’s hand cut fries and breathed in nearly two hundred years of dust from countless owners, customers and even celebrities such as Joe Walsh, who is rumored to have tended bar for a while back in the day. Like most steps forward, it seems that one must often first step into the past in order to get things going. After spending the last few months jackhammering concrete which for some reason, someone in the past poured over the hardwood of the first floor, Judd has placed a ban on asking “why” and instead is focusing on renovation. But this renovation does not just include demolition and drywall, Judd describes how, “Not only did this building need a physical renovation but there needed to be a cultural renovation as well, a renovation back to a community space, one that suits the population of the area, the young families along with the old timers. It was time for this space to be brought into the Gilpin of today, as well as back into what it used to be. We want to honor the history and the culture of the space and integrate that with the community itself, new and old and make it a welcoming place for both tourists and locals alike.”
And this seems to be exactly what Judd is doing, with care and time and as much money and sweat as he can possibly pour into it, piece by piece, this building, one of the oldest and perhaps even the oldest in Colorado, the Stage Stop is being brought back to life. Beneath the concrete, was the original hardwood and in a section that Judd shined I could see not only my shadow but the future of Gilpin County and of our community as well. Judd says “One of the main purposes of all this is to be a hub for the community. The idea is to create a cultural and economic center for this area that is not in Nederland but is in Gilpin County proper. There are so many things to do but the most important aspect of this whole project is community and making something that can allow the spirit of what once was in Rollinsville to come back.”
From what most likely used to be a literal stage coach stop for travelers coming and going over Rollins Pass, to the infamous and lauded era when a woman named Cookie was manager, to the gleam in Judd’s eye when he describes his hopes for there to be a bar on each floor, a speak easy with a secret entrance in the basement, a first floor family dining area serving hand cut fries and grilled burgers and perhaps even a green room for touring musicians who will play on the third floor stage. The Stage Stop it has been an anchor point for the “we” that makes up this area and With painstaking work, Judd hopes that soon this “we” will have a place to gather once more, in a new and old way at once, eating and drinking and dancing and taking in the beauty and hope of all that lies around and before us.
*AUTHORS NOTE: Your correspondent would like to admit he is no expert in the history of this area, and that many of the reported historical facts and figures could be incorrect. This article is not meant to be the end all for the history of the Stage Stop but in fact aims to be the start of a communal conversation helping us remember this legendary place. If you have any pictures or stories or rumors or myths pertaining to the Stage Stop, feel free to send them to community@stagestoppub.com or pay Judd and Gold Dirt Distillery a visit on Saturday night when they are open for cocktails!
(Originally published in the October 15, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)
