The Walls Talk: Historic House Museums of Colorado Thirty-seven historic homes, thirty-seven family stories. I wrote this book so that I could know the people who lived in these dwellings. I hope you enjoy knowing them, too. - Pat Werner

The house museums included in this book tell the stories of the families who lived in these dwellings. It was these stories that I wanted to bring to life.

I had hoped to represent all the cultures that left behind dwellings that are now house museums and whose organizations wished them included. Sadly, no Native American dwellings of known families have survived in Colorado, so the rich culture of that thread is missing here.

Many worthy living history museums were not included in this volume, as they were not family specific. Likewise, ruins, though some have been preserved at great expense, were not included. Historical museums housed in historic houses were not included unless the majority of their exhibits depicted the lives of those who dwelled within.

Above all, I strived for complete accuracy, relying on primary sources as much as possible as well as personal conversations with directors and curators. The truth of these stories was fascinating enough. There was no need to embellish with the folklore that many of these places inherited from the 1960s and 1970s, when articles and oral histories paid little mind to accurate details.

I wrote this book so that I could know the people who lived in these dwellings. I hope you enjoy knowing them, too.