Editorial update: September 7, 2026.
In Boulder the view pulls you west, up toward the mountains, and most weekend plans follow it. Turn the other way and you get Lafayette, one of the towns out on the plains east of the city. It's got a coal past, a compact old downtown you can walk in an afternoon, and a lake with a trail around it.
It started as a farm
Mary and Lafayette Miller arrived in Colorado in 1863 and acquired the land that became the town in 1871. They moved into Boulder in 1874, where he worked as a butcher, served as a town trustee and volunteered with the fire department, and she served on the school board. Lafayette died in 1878, and Mary went back to the farm with their six children. In 1884 coal turned up on the property. She platted a town four years later and named it for her husband. The mining years that followed were rough on the people doing the work. Conditions underground were unsafe, wages were low, and there were strikes. The Black Diamond, the last mine in town, shut down in 1956. Farming carried on after that, but the growth Lafayette has seen since has come out of Boulder and Denver rather than coal. The city's own history lays out the sequence.
The museum on Simpson Street
At 108 E. Simpson Street you'll find the Lafayette History Museum, which went by the Lafayette Miners Museum until the name changed in 2022. It sits in the Lewis home, an 1890s miner's cottage that was moved to the site from the Gladstone Mine area, so part of what you came to see is the building you're walking into. Hours are posted on the museum's own website, which you can get to from the city's facility page, so check there before you drive over. The WOW! Children's Museum is also in town, hands-on and built for younger visitors.
Old Town, and Art Night Out
From the museum you're a short walk from Public Road, where the shops and restaurants are, along with more of them on Simpson. In the warm months the street does Art Night Out in Old Town, on South Public Road and around Festival Plaza, with music, an art market and performers working the street. It recurs from May through September, so check the organizer's schedule for the current dates before you build an evening around it.
Out at Waneka Lake
Waneka Lake Park sits at 1600 Caria Drive, just west of Old Town. A 1.2 mile trail loops the water, there are birds along it, and there's a playground. Leashed dogs are welcome. It's an easy add to the day if you want an hour outside between the museum and dinner. Golfers have Indian Peaks here too, though that's a different sort of afternoon.
Dinner, and a beer after
The Post, at 105 W. Emma Street, does fried chicken and beer, and the Lafayette location is home to the Post Brewing Company. Liquid Mechanics is a neighborhood brewery at 297 N. Highway 287, Suite 100.
Which one you end on comes down to where you're going afterward. If you've spent the day on foot around Simpson and Public Road, Emma Street keeps you in the same few blocks. If you're driving north out of Lafayette anyway, Highway 287 puts Liquid Mechanics on your way rather than behind you.
