Crestone, Colorado
Crestone, Colorado | |
|---|---|
| Town of Crestone | |
Welcome sign on Birch Street, | |
Location of the Town of Crestone in the Saguache County, Colorado. | |
Crestone Location of the Town of Crestone, Colorado. Crestone Crestone (Colorado) | |
| Coordinates: 37°59′47″N 105°41′59″W / 37.9964°N 105.6998°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Colorado |
| County | Saguache |
| Established | 1880 |
| Incorporated | January 24, 1902 |
| Government | |
| • Type | statutory town |
| • Mayor | Benjamin Byer |
| • Town Clerk | Arielle Blackwell |
| • Treasurer | Arielle Blackwell |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.385 sq mi (0.996 km2) |
| • Land | 0.385 sq mi (0.996 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0.000 km2) |
| Elevation | 7,930 ft (2,420 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 141 |
| • Density | 367/sq mi (142/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−07:00 (MST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−06:00 (MDT) |
| ZIP code | 81131 |
| Area codes | 719 |
| GNIS place ID | 192409 |
| GNIS town ID | 2412387 |
| FIPS code | 08-18420 |
| Website | www |
The Town of Crestone is a statutory town in Saguache County, Colorado. According to the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 141. Crestone is located at the foot of the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range, in the northern part of the San Luis Valley. Crestone was platted in 1880 by George Adams, owner of the neighboring Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4. In the 1970s, the Baca Grande land development was established on the lands of the Baca Grant to the south and west. Several hundred homes have been built there .
The Crestone area, which includes the Baca Grande and Moffat, Colorado, is a spiritual center for several religions, including a Hindu temple, a Zen center, several Tibetan Buddhist centers, and various New Age activities. Much of this spiritual development was catalyzed by the couple Hanne and Maurice Strong in the 1970s, who set out to make it an interfaith center.
Crestone is named for the 14,000-foot peaks that lie just east of the town: Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. The Crestones, as they are known collectively, in turn, took their name from the Spanish word crestón, which, according to Walter Borneman and Lyndon Lampert's book A Climbing Guide to Colorado’s Fourteeners, means: “the top of a cock’s comb”; “the crest of a helmet”; or, in miners’ jargon, “an outcropping of ore”.