Lafayette Head came to Colorado in the mid 1850s, when what is now southern Colorado was at a cultural crossroads.
It was the northern end of the Mexican empire, also the homeland of thousands of Native Americans, and "Manifest Destiny" brought the European settlers west as well.
Lafayette Head emerged as a strong diplomatic figure balancing the wants and desires of all the people in the area.
He would serve as Colorado's first Lieutenant Governor.
Not much of his home still stands in Conejos, Colorado, but what remains has a storied history to tell.