Estes Colorado Real Estate

As rugged as Estes Park is, humans have lived in  the area for about 12,000 years. Archeologists have reported that the first  people known to have crossed the Bering Strait land bridge between Asia and  North America (at Alaska) came to the Estes area. Later on, around 2000 B.C, a  Paleo-Indian culture known as the McKean people hunted for game here, using the  area's natural, mountainous landscape to "funnel" animals to areas  where groups of hunters could then descend for the kill.

Search Estes homes for sale and ask your  Realtor about the Ute and Arapaho Native American tribes who would visit Estes Colorado real estate in the  summer -- just as thousands of Americans do today. These tribes spent the  winter in the Middle Park region south of Grand Lake and the remnants of the  trail they used to cross the Continental Divide is still visible.

Real Estate in Estes Colorado

Joel Estes, the adventurer for whom the town is  named, came to the Estes Valley in 1859, after having made a considerable  fortune as a California gold miner. He moved his family (his wife and their 13  children) and a herd of cattle to the area in 1860. The Estes family hosted  William Byers, owner/editor of the Rocky Mountain News in 1864. To honor  Estes, Byers named the area Estes Park. Several cattle ranchers set up business  in the 1870s. The community's Elkhorn Lodge was built about this time. A former  guest of the lodge, F.O. Stanley, fell in love with the area and returned to  build the world-famous Stanley Lodge (the model for the hotel in the thriller The  Shining) in 1909. Visitors have been flocking to the area ever since. 

When  you're ready to search Estes Colorado  Real Estate for a vacation getaway or year-round home, contact the area's  leading real estate firm, Ponderosa Realty. The firm's real estate experts  welcome the chance to help you find the perfect property.