August 20, 2005

• Queen of Glen Eyrie

  
  

       General William Jackson Palmer was the second youngest (beside George Custer) Brigadier General of the Civil War.  He began life in a quiet Quaker home in Pennsylvania where he developed values that he carried through to the end.  Although passionately opposed to war and violence, he was even more passionately opposed to slavery and so joined the battle and rose through the ranks.

  
  

       His first love though was railroading.  So after the war he laid aside the military career and went back to work building railroads. 

  
  

       (I just finished Atlas Shrugged and I can't help drawing comparisons between General Palmer and Nat Taggart ...)

  
  

       When General Palmer was scouting Colorado he discovered a valley just north of the Garden of the Gods and was enchanted.  He puchased 10,000 acres of land (at $1.25 per acre) which became not only the estate of his home, but also the original land base of Colorado Springs. 

  
  

       One of his business associates had a beautiful daughter who caught his eye.  As a child she had been nicknamed "Queen" by an Aunt.  Palmer said that fit as she was born to be Queen of his heart.  They married and he promised her a home suitable to a Queen. 

  
  

       Queen was a well-read well-educated woman and delighted her husband with her mind.  General Palmer gave her the task of naming the streets of the new citiy and she entered the game with a sense of herself, so we have the French "Bijou" and the Greek "Uintah" scattered into the mix of Cascades and Unions. 

  
  

       Their story has a sad note though, before the completion of their home, Queen suffered a mild heart attack and was advised that she would never survive the altitude.  She left Colorado with their children, first for the East Coast and eventually for England.  General Palmer commuted from Colorado to England spending as much time with his family as possible while contuning to build his railroad and his home.  Then when she was just about the age I am now, Queen suffered a second, this time fatal heart attack.  The grieving husband brought her remains back to Colorado for burial and brought his daughters home to the Castle she never saw. 

  
  

      General Palmer lived and "ruled" from Glen Eyrie as the much loved benefactor of the city.  He designed parks, endowed schools, personally purchased toys for every child in town every Christmas ...

  
  

       The home today is a conference center owned and operated by the Navigators.  Visitors are able to tour the grounds and enter the main level of the home.  A magnificient tea room has been the location of hundreds of fairy tale parties for little girls of all ages who sip tea and gaze out onto the rugged Colorado landscape.

  
  

      Wanna see?

  
  

  

  
  

  Glen Eyrie was named by a Scottish contractor for the eagles' nests nearby.  Eagles still nest on the property.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  My Dad looking out over the Castle's front lawn with the driveway from which that first photo was taken visible in the background.

  • 7:59 am
  • 6 Comments