Entry No. 20 — the Colorado Springs file — filed under: haunted
Old Homestead House Museum
An 1896 building in Cripple Creek that was once the gold camp's most exclusive brothel — run by legendary madam Pearl DeVere — and is now one of only three brothel museums in the country, its opulent parlors preserved down to the running water and electricity that made it elite.
The story
In 1896, after twin fires flattened Cripple Creek, madam Pearl DeVere didn't rebuild with cheap pine. She put up a red-brick fortress at 353 East Myers Avenue and furnished it with hand-painted French wallpaper, velvet draperies, gas chandeliers, and indoor running water with two full bathrooms—a outrageous flex in a boomtown where most miners bathed in freezing creeks. You didn't hear it from us, but off-duty hard-rock miners making $3 a day could only stare from the street; Pearl catered exclusively to gold-camp elites, charging $250 a night and requiring prospective clients to submit a financial application before making an appointment.
DeVere's reign was short. In 1897, just a year after completing her brick house, she died of a morphine overdose. Legend claims her estate couldn't even cover a burial until an anonymous wealthy client mailed a $1,000 check with explicit orders that she be buried in her most expensive silk gown. Cripple Creek gave her the grandest funeral in town history, complete with a brass band that struck up 'There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight' on the march back from Mt. Pisgah Cemetery. The house kept operating under madam Hazel Vernon until 1917, eventually becoming a boarding house before its 1950s owners discovered the original Victorian interiors intact and opened it in 1958 as one of only three brothel museums in the United States.
What makes Old Homestead worth the haul up the mountain isn't just the preserved lace—it's the unvarnished look at how 1890s red-light society actually functioned. Tour guides walk you through the velvet parlors and quiet bedrooms, detailing the gritty survival mechanics behind the glamour: strict town curfews that banned the women from shopping Bennett Avenue during peak daylight hours so 'respectable' women wouldn't see them, routine examinations by town doctors, and birth control methods relying on halved orange peels. You are standing in the exact rooms where gold fortunes shifted hands before the mine owners ever set foot in a bank.
What it's like
Stepping off Myers Avenue—a quiet side street sitting one block off Bennett Avenue's noisy casino strip—you'll find a brick façade that looks deceptively dignified for a Wild West red-light district. Inside, the house feels preserved mid-moment, smelling faintly of old wood and draped in original wallpapers. You'll take an hour-long guided tour through the parlors, bedrooms, and the discreet viewing room, led by docents who share candid historical details without sugarcoating the reality of boomtown sex work. Because Cripple Creek sits at 9,500 feet elevation and the museum operates seasonally from late spring through fall, keep an eye on mountain weather and call ahead to confirm seasonal operating hours before driving up from Colorado Springs. Free street parking is available on the block, but grab a morning slot before afternoon casino traffic clogs the area.
The move: Take the hour-long guided tour of madam Pearl DeVere's opulent parlor and bedrooms, and hear how Cripple Creek's gold-rush gentlemen really spent their nights.
📍 Before you go The museum sits at 353 E Myers Ave, on Cripple Creek's historic red-light strip a block off the main casino-lined Bennett Avenue — it's roughly an hour's mountain drive up from Colorado Springs, so treat it as a day trip and watch for weather at this 9,500-foot elevation. It's a seasonal operation, generally open summer through fall and shuttered in winter, with guided tours running about an hour; hours shift seasonally, so check ahead before driving up. Street parking nearby is free but limited, so arrive early on busy weekends. Pair it with the rest of old Cripple Creek — the narrow-gauge railroad, a gold-mine tour, and the historic downtown.
- 📍 Cripple Creek
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 353 E Myers Ave, Cripple Creek, CO 80813
Hours: Seasonal museum in Cripple Creek (~1hr from Colorado Springs); guided or self-guided ~1hr tours. Confirm current-season hours before driving up.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- May Natural History Museum & Herkimer the Giant Beetle — Pair 1890s gold-rush parlor history high in the mountains with a retro roadside museum down along Highway 115 housing thousands of preserved tropical insects.
- Leechpit Records & Vintage — Balance a visit to one of the country's few preserved 19th-century brothels with a dig through mid-century pop-culture oddities and vinyl crates on Colorado Springs' west side.
- Poplar Gulch Trail (from St. Elmo ghost town) — Follow up Cripple Creek's elite mining-boom history with a trip deeper into the mountains to explore St. Elmo's weathered 1880s ghost town storefronts.
- Wise Roots Apothecary — Contrast the opulent Victorian brothel where gold-camp madams ran the show with an 1880s candlelit Manitou Springs church housing a modern herbal apothecary.
Good to know
How much did Pearl DeVere charge for a night at Old Homestead?
Pearl DeVere charged $250 per night in 1896—at a time when average Cripple Creek miners earned around $3 a day—and required gentlemen to pass a financial application prior to booking.
When is the museum open for tours?
Old Homestead is a seasonal operation open generally from late spring (around Memorial Day) through fall, closing down for winter. Hour-long guided tours run throughout the operating season.
Is the Old Homestead House Museum haunted?
Staff members and visitors frequently report subtle ghost encounters, from phantom touches and cold spots to claims of former resident women watched over modern restoration work.
Where is the museum located in relation to Colorado Springs?
It sits at 353 E Myers Ave in Cripple Creek, about an hour's mountain drive west of Colorado Springs at an elevation of 9,500 feet, one block off the main Bennett Avenue strip.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: cityofcripplecreek.com · legendsofamerica.com · historynet.com · Wikipedia · Reddit
last checked: 2026-06-04