Entry No. 15 — the Pueblo file — filed under: records
Museum of Friends
“On a quiet Main Street it's often the busiest thing going.”
Painters Brendt Berger and Maria Cocchiarelli-Berger spent decades trading canvases with friends instead of selling them — swap currency of the '60s New York loft and Maui scenes. The stash, now 4,000-plus works, fills two floors of the century-old Roof & Dick building in Walsenburg, a coal town most drivers pass at 75 mph. Upstairs: Yoko Ono, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Janet Fish, beat-era ephemera. It's America's first counterculture museum, and on a quiet Main Street it's often the busiest thing going.
The story
Most drivers blip past Walsenburg at 75 miles an hour on I-25, written off as another quiet stretch of southern Colorado coal country. But pull off onto Main Street and step into the century-old Roof & Dick building, and you'll find a massive financial network operating entirely outside the cash economy. Starting in the 1960s, painters Brendt Berger and Maria Cocchiarelli-Berger bypassed galleries and cash altogether. In New York lofts and Maui art circles, they traded their own canvases directly with fellow artists, building an honor-system vault piece by traded piece.
That barter stash eventually swelled to over 4,000 works. Rather than selling off the collection or shipping it to Santa Fe, they dumped the entire payload into two floors of downtown Walsenburg. Upstairs, the walls hold an astounding cross-section of American counterculture: original pieces by Yoko Ono, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Janet Fish sit alongside Beat-generation ephemera, sketches, and canvases that money never actually bought.
It stands as America's first counterculture museum, parked squarely in a town where coal dust once paid all the bills. It's a living archive of peer-to-peer creative currency, preserved on a quiet block where it remains the most unexpectedly radical thing going.
What it's like
Head for the main entrance at 600 Main Street and ride the elevator upstairs, though if you ask nicely, they can unlock the original 109 E. 6th Street staircase entrance for the historic way in. The ground floor houses rotating shows and the Made in Walsenburg shop, but the permanent stash upstairs is the real payload. Don't just wander through blind—ask for a guided walk-through. Having someone explain which canvas was traded for a weekend's shelter or a favor in 1968 turns two floors of fine art into an intimate, high-stakes diary.
The move: Ride the Main Street elevator up to the permanent collection and each pick the one piece you'd have traded your own work for — compare answers over green chile downtown.
📍 Before you go There are two entrances: the Main Street door at 600 Main has an elevator, while the original Sixth Street staircase entrance (109 E. 6th) opens on request. Street parking along Main is easy. The ground floor holds rotating shows and the Made in Walsenburg shop; the permanent collection is upstairs, best seen by asking for a guided walk-through. Pair it with a hike or paddle at Lathrop State Park, ten minutes west on the Highway of Legends.
- 📍 Walsenburg
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 600 Main St, Walsenburg, CO 81089
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- FAROUT Murals of Walsenburg — Step outside to compare the intimate loft-swap canvases indoors with the massive street murals painted across Walsenburg's exterior brickwork.
- Walsenburg Mining Museum — Walk a single block to contrast the 1960s counterculture art archive with the gritty 1913 coal-strike history of the region.
- Old Pictou Mine — Drive two miles out of town to see the abandoned coal camp ruins that formed the original backbone of the local landscape.
Good to know
How did two painters build a 4,000-piece art collection?
Founders Brendt Berger and Maria Cocchiarelli-Berger spent decades bartering their own artwork directly with peer artists across New York's 1960s loft scene, Hawaii, and beyond, acquiring every piece through trade rather than cash.
How do I access both floors of the museum?
The main entrance at 600 Main Street offers elevator access to the upper floors, while the original staircase door around the corner at 109 E. 6th Street can be opened on request.
What is on the lower level versus the upper level?
The ground floor features rotating contemporary art shows and the Made in Walsenburg artisan shop, while the upper floor houses the permanent 4,000-piece counterculture collection.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · pueblostarjournal.org · Atlas Obscura · colorado.com
last checked: 2026-06-11