Museum
The Vaile Family
The Vaile family moved to Denver in 1881. Joel Frederick Vaile was an attorney for the Rio Grande Railroad. His wife, Charlotte, was the author of popular children’s books and short stories. There were four Vaile children: William, Gertrude, Louis and Lucretia. Wanting a summer place in the mountains, the Vaile family bought some land in Palmer Lake and built themselves a small cabin of slab wood on the lower slopes of Ben Floss Mountain, now known as Sundance Mountain. They usually spent at least three weeks of the summer at the cabin.
Part of the family rode the train from Denver and part came in the family horse-drawn carriage. Lucretia and her sister and brothers loved to tramp over the hills surrounding their cabin. They also spent many hours riding the burros that were for rent in Palmer Lake. It was Will Vaile and a companion who discovered (so they thought) the series of caves in Rocky Canyon. Will goes into great detail in his well-kept diaries about the caves and how they named each of the separate rooms of the cave. His diaries were written in the summer of 1890. Will Vaile later became a Congressman from Colorado.
Lucretia Vaile, after graduating from East High School in Denver, went on to graduate from Vassar College and the New York State Public Library School. She was a Librarian in the Denver Public Library for 14 years and for 15 years she was at the Queensborough Public Library in New York. She retired in 1946. She continued to spend as much time as possible in Palmer Lake. The items in the “Lucretia Vaile Exhibit” all belonged to members of the Vaile family at one time or another. The pictures are of the two Vaile houses. Miss Vaile lived her last years in La Jolla, California, but kept in touch with Palmer Lake residents through the Little Art Group. She died in 1977, remembering the town of Palmer Lake and the Little Art Group in her will.
Our Mission
The Lucretia Vaile Museum houses many photos, articles, and artifacts of the historical Palmer Lake, Monument and Palmer Divide areas. Special displays are rotated every 4-6 months. The mission of the museum is to provide, maintain and expand a museum resource for historical data, artifacts and other items of significance relating to Palmer Lake, Monument, and the Palmer Divide area and make resources available to the public on a scheduled basis. Our museum director, staff, and docents are all volunteers. We operate our organization purely for the benefit of the Palmer Lake area and its citizens.
- Serve the historical and educational needs of Palmer Lake, Monument, and the Divide area as a resource and repository for historically significant documents, photos, artifacts and related items.
- Preserve and protect the Museum and its contents.
- Maintain Museum housing, reference files, books and storage on an organized basis.
- Coordinate liaison activities with the Palmer Lake Historical Society, sponsor of the Lucretia Vaile Museum, and also with the Town of Palmer Lake for those services furnished by the Society and the Town.
- Coordinate liaison activities with the Town of Monument and private organizations to further the mission of the Museum.
- Communicate to the public the availability of the Museum as a research and educational resource and assist visitors with information about the historical data available.
- Maintain and communicate to the public the schedule of the Museum’s open hours.
- Promote guided tours, develop and conduct history-related presentations to clubs and groups, create Museum displays and sponsor special Museum events.
- Encourage and promote donations to the museum of historically significant data and artifacts.
- Encourage and secure donations and funding to ensure the continuation of the Museum.
Patrons and Benefactors
We wish to recognize the patrons and benefactors that have made very generous contributions thus furthering the mission of the Vaile Museum and the Historical Society. Please visit the websites of these fine people & organizations. They have all helped make the job of preserving and displaying the history of the Tri-Lakes area possible. Find out more at our new Patrons and Benefactors page.
Current Museum Volunteers in photo are, left to right, Hobie Edwards, Secretary, Hildegard Juell, Docent, Susan Davis, Curator, Roger Davis, Director. Not shown are: Phyllis Bonser, Hilde Simco, Sharon Jarnagin, Jim Sawatzki, Dee Kirby, and Mary Meyer.
