New mother lode: fudge

LEADVILLE, Colo. - At 10,430 feet, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in North America. The silver mining boomtown of the 1880s has a heady history peopled by the likes of Sam Houston, Doc Holliday, and Molly Brown (known after her death as "Unsinkable"). It's also a great place to catch a sugar buzz.

But the first thing you notice when you walk into Hundley's Old Time Gifts and Fudge is not the fudge. The 4,000-square-foot store, owned and operated since 1985 by Keith Hundley and his wife, Charlotte, is crammed with items that combine to recall a Victorian-era general store. There are reproductions of famous guns, replicas of various tins, trays, and signs. There are stuffed animals, quilts, notions, potions, and plenty of books about Leadville's colorful past.

But it's the sweet stuff that keeps customers coming back. Charlotte Hundley makes more than 40 varieties of fudge in a veritable rainbow of flavors: raspberries and cream, banana walnut, amaretto chocolate swirl, chocolate coconut almond. Anyone for penuchi pecan? All the fudge is melt-in-your-mouth quality, and best of all, if an ascent to Leadville is not on your itinerary, you can order it online.

Hundley's Old Tyme Gifts and Fudge, 623 Harrison Ave., Leadville, Colo., 719-486-1512, hundleysfudge.com.

DOUG WARREN