{{Unreliable sources|date=May 2020}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Cherokee Ranch | nrhp_type = | image = Cherokee ranch Gargoyle - panoramio.jpg | caption = Gargoyle photographed in 2014 | nearest_city= Sedalia, Colorado |coordinates={{coord|39.4575|N|104.9388|W|type:landmark_region:US-CO_dim:5000|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Colorado | built = 1868, 1926-28 |architect=Burnham F. Hoyt | builder = John Blunt; et al. | architecture = Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals | added = October 21, 1994 | area = {{convert|3,280|acre|km2}} | refnum = 94001228<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref> }} '''Cherokee Ranch''', in Douglas County, Colorado near Sedalia, has been a purebred cattle ranch since 1954, including raising Santa Gertrudis cattle. The ranch is private property but offers frequent public and private events and tours.<ref name=about>{{cite web|url=https://cherokeeranch.org/about-us.html |title=Cherokee Ranch: About Us |date=December 15, 2019}}</ref> The property overlaps with portions of the Cherokee Ranch petrified forest.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Late Paleocene woods from Cherokee Ranch, Colorado, U.S.A.|first1=Elisabeth A.|last1=Wheeler|first2=Peter K.|last2=Brown|first3=Allan J.|last3=Koch|journal=Rocky Mountain Geology|publisher=University of Wyoming|date=1 May 2019|url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/uwyo/rmg/article/54/1/33/570837/Late-Paleocene-woods-from-Cherokee-Ranch-Colorado|access-date=24 July 2023|volume=54|number=1|page=33 |doi=10.24872/rmgjournal.54.1.33 |bibcode=2019RMGeo..54...33W |s2cid=182349516 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
A large portion of the ranch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The listing included 19 contributing buildings, five contributing structures, a contributing site, and a contributing object on {{convert|3280|acre|km2}}.<ref name=nris/> The buildings are distributed among four historic building groups created by two homesteaders and a rich heiress. The four groups are: *Ranch Headquarters, originally the '''John Blunt Homestead''' and later known as '''Amnicola''' *Cherokee Castle *the '''Flower Homestead''' (Chickamauga), and *the Johnson ranch buildings.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>
The first part of the property eventually assembled was {{convert|160|acre|km2}} homesteaded by Maine-born John E. Blunt. A former Union soldier, he arrived with his family in 1868 from Kansas in a covered wagon which brought apple tree slips. He settled on land along East Plum Creek at homestead site now on the south side of U.S. Highway 85. It was extremely cold in winters along the creek, so they moved to higher ground in 1873 and built a wood-frame house at the current location of ranch headquarters. An original apple tree brought to the new site survived in 1994. Blunt acquired others' homestead properties and eventually what he called '''Sunflower Ranch''' had {{convert|1,550|acre|km2}} on which he farmed wheat, sorghum, and steers.<ref name=nrhpdoc/> The ranch was sold by Ray Blunt in 1954 to Mildred Montague Genevieve Kimball, known as "Tweet", who chose to call it '''Amnicola''' after her property in Chattanooga on the Tennessee River.
Tweet Kimball, known as "a delightfully eccentric international traveler, philanthropist, equestrian, award-winning cattlewoman and legendary hostess", lived 55 years in Cherokee Castle.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thekeepcolorado.com/the-story-of-tweet-kimball/ |title=The Story of Tweet Kimball |accessdate=December 15, 2019}}</ref>
Her first of four husbands was Merritt Kirk Ruddock, of aristocratic family and C.I.A. connections.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://constantinereport.com/the-prime-of-ms-tweet-kimball-ch-one-from-psychic-dictatorship-in-the-usa-ii/ |title=The Prime of Ms Tweet Kimball |date=January 19, 2012|author=Alex Constantine |accessdate=December 15, 2019}}</ref>
The ranch has {{convert|4,185|acre|km2}} on both south and north of U.S. Highway 85, but the listing is limited to the property north of 85, which includes four historic building groups.<ref name=nrhpdoc/> The four are: *'''Cherokee Castle''', originally known as Charlford Castle, which is a 20th-century copy of a 15th-century Scottish castle. It is the main residence of the ranch and was built during 1926–28. It was designed by Denver architect Burnham F. Hoyt, who is known for his later design of the Red Rocks Park Amphitheater.<ref name=nrhpdoc/> *the '''Flower Homestead''' (Chickamauga), began with English-born Frederick Gerald Flower ploughing {{convert|12|acre|ha}} of land and stringing barbed wire and then, in 1894, filing a homestead claim. He built a stone house on the edge of a high plateau with views of the Front Range, and his wife and sister moved there in 1895. His remote property was accessed by a track which later became Daniels Park Road. Flower prospered and accumulated a total of {{convert|2,380|acre|km2}}, which was sold to Charles Johnson in 1924.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cherokeeranch.org/history.html |title=Cherokee Ranch: History |accessdate=December 15, 2019}}</ref> *the Johnson ranch buildings.<ref name=nrhpdoc/> The Wauhatchie Barn, an element of the Johnson Dairy Farm, has recently{{when?|date=February 2020}} been restored.<ref name=about/>
The listing covers property north of U.S. Route 85 and south of Daniels Park Road.<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=94001228}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Cherokee Ranch / Sunflower Ranch; Blunt Homestead; Flower Homestead; 5DA708|publisher=National Park Service|author=Barbara Norgren |date=March 1994 |accessdate=December 15, 2019}} With {{NRHP url|id=94001228|photos=y|title=accompanying 40 photos, including historic ones}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://cherokeeranch.org/about-us.html Cherokee Ranch], official website
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
Category:Castles in Colorado Category:Ranches in Colorado Category:National Register of Historic Places in Douglas County, Colorado <!---Category:Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals architecture in the United States---> Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1868