Boulder County, Colo. - On April 20, 2023, the National Park Service listed the Carolyn Holmberg Preserve at Rock Creek Farm on the National Register of Historic Places.

Carolyn Holmberg Preserve at Rock Creek Farm is a 1,124-acre open space property located in southeast Boulder County. The site is named after Carolyn Holmberg, the former Parks & Open Space director (1983-1998) who promoted the property’s acquisition. The property embodies many open space values: a place where visitors and community members connect, where farmers lease agricultural land, where important grassland resources and wildlife are protected, and a place that preserves its cultural resources.

Important historic features on the landscape include an extensive farmstead still in use today, two rail corridors, and a former coal mining site, the Sunnyside Mine. The farmstead is comprised of historic agricultural buildings dating from the early-to-middle decades of the twentieth century. The 1916 Goodhue Farmhouse, the centerpiece of the historic farmstead, was rehabilitated in 2004, and serves as a meeting venue.

Archaeological evidence of early human presence on the property dates to around 5,500 years Before Present at a well-preserved Early Archaic Period and Ceramic Period site. Through excavation of the site, along with analysis of floral and faunal remains, archaeologists determined that the site was a location used to procure and process resources and to manufacture stone tools.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archaeological resources.

This project was paid for in part by a History Colorado – State Historical Fund grant.

Learn more about Carolyn Holmberg Preserve at Rock Creek Farm.