Carolyn Holmberg Preserve at
Rock Creek Farm
Since it was purchased in 1980, Rock Creek Farm has been
preserved and maintained as an active producing farm and is a designated
cultural landscape under the Boulder County landmark program.
The farmers maintain an
agricultural lease on the property and grow pumpkins for the annual U-PICK-EM
Great Pumpkin Patch. In addition to pumpkins they grow hay, corn, oats
and wheat. The farm is also home to cows and calves who enjoy all the left
over pumpkins after Halloween.
This farm is a beautiful island of peace and tranquility surrounded by
malls, homes, condos and commercial warehouses. Take time to play with
the kids, relax, smell the fresh air and marvel at the wonders of nature
and the bountiful harvest.
Rock Creek Farm has a multiuse trail that
is in the process of being constructed. It has a picnic shelter
available for visitors and is
located
in southeastern corner of Boulder County, just north of Broomfield. Bank fishing is allowed at Stearns Lake.
History
Plains Indians, including Cheyennes and Arapaho, lived in this area
prior to the discovery of gold in Boulder County. The women of these
tribes were recognized for their quilling or beading. Mothers used
extravagantly ornamented cradleboards to transport their babies. She
carried her child in its cradle on her back with a buckskin band across
her chest and upper arms. On longer trips, the baby in its cradle might
have been put into a willow basket attached to a crude vehicle, called a
travois, drawn by a dog or horse.
In the late-1850s, miners who came to Boulder County and did not strike
it rich, turned to other trades such as farming. Agricultural
opportunities in eastern Boulder County gave way to settlements such as
Longmont, Valmont, Lafayette, and Pella. Mary Miller was affectionately
known as the "Mother of Lafayette." In 1863, she and her husband came
west, bringing the first threshing machine to the Colorado Territory. They
ran a large road house and stage station for the Overland Mail Stage Route
from 1864 to the 1870s on what is now county open space. Stage traffic at
the Rock Creek Station dropped to almost nothing but local trips because
of competition from the Denver Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads. The
Millers then ran a successful cattle ranch in the area and meat market in
Boulder. Mary Miller founded the town of Lafayette in 1888 and named it
for her husband who died of heat stroke in 1878.
Boulder County purchased a portion of the Rock Creek Valley for
agricultural preservation in 1980. Since that time, open space has
provided a large buffer between the growing communities in southeastern
Boulder County. It was the first acquisition which the then open space
director, Carolyn Holmberg, promoted in 1979. After her death in the fall
of 1998, Rock Creek Farm was rededicated to include her name in 2000.
 The pumpkin patch is open to the public from about mid-September until Halloween,
weather permitting. Straw, corn stalk bundles, gourds, Indian corn and baked goods can also
be purchased at the front stand.
Rock Creek Farm, consisting of 1,151 acres, has 2.8 miles of multiuse
trails: the 1.5-mile Mary
Miller trail and the 1.3-mile Cradleboard Trail. Both are crusher fine
trails and are open to hikers, mountain bikers
and equestrians.
Dogs
are permitted on this trail.
A group shelter, which can accommodate
up to 50 people, is available for use on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The Goodhue Farmhouse is available for
special events and meetings for Boulder County departments, local
municipalities, environmental and historical non-profits, and other
non-profits that partner with Boulder County. For more information
visit the Goodhue Farmhouse page.
 Stearns Lake is open to bank fishing
only. The
lake is stocked with largemouth and smallmouth bass and tiger muskie. All
creel limits must adhere to the Colorado Wildlife Commission regulations.
Creel limits for largemouth and smallmouth bass is 5 each at least 15
inches long. The creel limit for tiger muskie is one at least 36 inches
long. All boats and floating devices are prohibited.
The entrance to the Carolyn Holmberg Preserve/Rock Creek Farm is
located north of Broomfield at the junction of US Highway 287 and Dillon
Road. Use the
interactive
park locator map for driving directions.
Carolyn Holmberg Preserve
Rock Creek Farm Map:
Because all of our open space properties are environmentally sensitive,
it is important for users to know the rules
and regulations pertaining to
our open space.
Once the map
is displayed, you can use the adobe toolbar to fit the map to your window,
pan, zoom in or out, search or print the map on your own printer. The size
of the original map and screen reduction are shown on the lower left hand
status bar.
The Rock Creek Farm map
is a 600 KB file and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free from Adobe. Map may not appear properly in your web browser, for best
results, save map file to a directory on your computer (right click and
choose "Save Target as" in Internet explorer or "Save Link
as" in Netscape) and open using Adobe Reader.
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