Breckenridge Real Estate Blog

The embroidery of history upon our world-class ski resort has charmed many of us into choosing to purchase vacation real estate in Breckenridge.  In celebration of Breckenridge’s 150th birthday this year, author-historian Mary Ellen Gilliland is publishing a new book, Breckenridge, 1859-2009.  As she digs up lots of golden stories, Gilliland’s in-depth research enriches the value of our Victorian Town of Breckenridge and its properties.

Not only does Breckenridge come to life in Gilliland’s books, but so does historic Summit County in the neighboring communities of Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne, Keystone, Montezuma, and Copper Mountain.   

Scheduled for publication Spring 2009, the new book revisits the first gold strike in Breckenridge in 1859.  In the meantime, future residents of Breckenridge CO homes can pick up Gilliland’s other books detailing the Colorado high country, history, and hiking and skiing trails.  Walk through the passages in the New Summit Hiker (2006) where Gilliland guides hikers to wilderness trails, waterfalls, alpine lakes, wildflower meadows, and incredible sites with panoramic mountain views.  Readers enter the gateway to the Colorado peak experience.

Pick up a copy of SUMMIT, A Gold Rush History of Summit County Colorado (2006) to learn about alpine mine camps, highline stagecoach and narrow gauge railway routes, Ute Indian sites, and the Rocky Mountain frontier.  SUMMIT offers colorful accounts of Colorado’s flourishing gold and silver rush 1859-1910.

Gilliland’s secret writing skill comes from her sense of humor.  As she explained to Andrew Tolve in the Colorado Summit Magazine, “It’s hilarious what goes on.  People are plain funny.  They just are.  What angling people will do and the shenanigans they will pull against each other….Some of the personalities today are as humorous as the ones yesterday.  I’m always richly enjoying people.”

So she could pen Rascals, Scoundrels, and No Goods (2005) about the “escapades of charlatans, swindlers, seducers, rogues, and imposters…scamps and hooligans.”  Gilliland writes, “A Victorian lady would rush for her smelling salts at the first whiff of scandal—and so may you.”

Don’t let the squirmy accounts keep you from investigating the great values available today in our gorgeous mountain ski hamlet.  Who knows?  You, too, may strike it rich after you purchase your own mountain retreat.

Jonna Beardsley of Breckenridge Associates offers a wealth of information about real estate in the Rocky Mountains.  Call Jonna at (970) 453-2200 for friendly, professional assistance.