Pikes Peak Cog Railway summit Front Range Ceramic Art Tile

The railway climbs nine miles from Manitou Springs to a summit that sits at 14,115 feet, the easternmost of Colorado's high peaks and the first thing the Front Range gives up to the sky. Katharine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful" after reaching this summit in July 1893. The line "purple mountain majesties" came down with her. The Swiss-built trainsets that work the line now were ordered after a three-year rebuild; the grade still touches 25 percent on the steepest stretch. At the top, the donuts at the visitor center are mixed for the altitude. Almost everyone takes one outside to eat in the wind.

Slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee.