Cherokee Ranch & Castle seeks funding to preserve Sedalia landmark

Cherokee Ranch & Castle is asking Douglas County donors to help keep one of Sedalia’s most recognizable landmarks open, repaired and active. The preservation push is about more than a scenic view from the foothills. It is about whether the county can keep a rare mix of history, open space and public programming from slipping under the pressure of age and upkeep.

The Cherokee Ranch & Castle Foundation manages the property, which spans about 3,441 acres of ranch land and includes a Scottish-style castle with old-world detailing and a Western setting. The foundation says it holds the deed to the ranch, a site that grew from the late-1890s Flower and Blunt homesteads. Frederick Gerald Flower filed his claim on Aug. 6, 1894, and the Flower family moved into the stone house on Jan. 18, 1895. The Johnson family bought the Flower Homestead in 1924, built the castle, and later sold the property to Tweet Kimball in 1954.

The fundraising effort shows the challenge in concrete terms. ColoradoGives.org lists the foundation at $15,902 raised from 52 donors toward a $50,000 goal, with money supporting cultural programs, historic stewardship and the wildlife sanctuary spread across the ranch. The foundation also says it bought another 300 acres next to the ranch in 2010, adding to a landscape that has to be managed year after year, not just admired from afar.

That matters in Douglas County because Cherokee Ranch is not a static museum piece. The site hosts Castle Art Tours and Teas, concerts, theatricals, princess parties, science lectures, land tours, hikes, geology field days, plein air paint days and art exhibits. Those events, along with the preserve’s trails and views, help make the property a living community asset for residents, visitors and school groups who use it as a place to learn, gather and experience the county’s ranching past.

The preservation needs are also not abstract. Douglas County approved $575,000 in July 2025 for repairs and continued public access, with the money designated for exterior concrete, roofing, awning and fencing repairs, interior repairs and painting, plus a future preservation needs assessment. The county said the agreement also lets commissioners appoint two members to the foundation board. More than 87% of voters approved extending the county tax that helps fund parks, trails, historic resources and open space in 2022, signaling broad support for preserving places like Cherokee Ranch.

History Colorado describes the ranch as a rare, layered landscape with four 19th- and 20th-century building groups, a replica 15th-century Scottish castle, historic roadways, pastures, corrals, a wildlife preserve and a prehistoric archaeological site. Burnham F. Hoyt designed the castle, and Cornish stonemasons built it from stone quarried on site. That kind of asset is expensive to maintain, and the current fundraising drive is a test of whether Douglas County wants to preserve not just a landmark, but the full public life around it.