Mancos makes the grade

The historic town is listed among the best by Smithsonian.

The historic town of Mancos in southwest Colorado is listed in Smithsonian Magazine’s “The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2016.”

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, Smithsonian made sure all towns on this year’s list are near America’s scenic parks — and Mancos is just 10 minutes from the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park, which is also a World Heritage Site.

Mancos has a charm of its own, the magazine said, where the downtown is a “nationally registered historic district that still includes some of the first buildings constructed in the town.”

Below the Mesa Verde Mountains in the Mancos River Valley, the town was established in the 1800s and often served as the setting for Louis L’Amour novels, according to officials in Montezuma County.

It balances authentic Western cowboy culture — including cattle drives — with an artisan community. “Artisans of Mancos,” an art cooperative, is in the restored historic Bauer Bank Building downtown, with more than 20 local artists displaying works from paintings and wooden furniture to woven blankets and fiber art.

The Mancos Brewing Company calls itself a nano-brewery, crafting its beers in one-barrel batches, and the Columbine Bar is one of the oldest saloons in Colorado.

The magazine also liked the many outdoor activities that take place in Mancos each summer, from kayaking on the Jackson Gulch Reservoir to camping and trail running in Mancos State Park — which has two yurts that can be reserved year-round.