Story and photography by Kathryn Retzler
Copyright San Juan Publishing, all rights reserved

It's a step back in time...to an earlier era when ladies’ skirts swept the streets and gentlemen wore tall hats and cravats. Businesses, like the mines they served, boomed. Streets were crowded with mule teams loaded with supplies for trips up the mountain and ore coming back down. The narrow gauge railroad steamed into town, smoke pluming over the valley as it brought visitors and drummers, many of whom booked at the Beaumont, the town's most elegant lodging. 

Today, skirts are shorter (or on-existant, replaced by pants of varyinig lengths). Men's hats are likely to be ball caps (and an ocassional Stetson—we still have a lot of genuine [and wannabe] cowboys here). Jeeps and SUVs have replaced the mules, and now carry visitors and tour groups up into the mountains.

But despite the differences, a taste of history remains, and the Beaumont Hotel, the Grand Lady of Ouray, stands tall and proud. Refurbished and now equipped with the most modern amenities, she is ready to comfort and pamper visitors and locals alike.

After a long time of inactivity and incipient decay, the hotel, featuring twelve beautifully furnished guest rooms was lovingly restored in 2003 to its former glory. First to reopen were the lobby shops. Next came Bulow's Bistro (named for the architect who designed the Beaumont), a coffee and wine bar and café. Upstairs, the Tundra, an upscale restaurant features “High Altitude Cuisine” in the historic dining room located on the second floor. The restored Beaumont—and adjacent Scott-Humphries-King (SHK) building, is home to the popular Buen Tiempo restaurant.

The restoration took nearly five years, and the building is now under contract to new owners. Like much of history, old and in the making, change is in the air once again for the Grand Old Lady of Ouray.