The Baldpate Inn facts for kids

The Baldpate Inn is a hotel located in Estes Park, Colorado, with a designation on the National Register of Historic Places.

Estes Park, Co., Baldpate Inn

National Register of Historic Places, metal plaque

It was founded in 1917 by Anglo-American brothers Charles Mace (combat and commercial photographer, 1889-1973), and Gordon Mace, and their families. The Inn is known especially two reasons: the hotel was named for the popular mystery novel, play and films Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers, and was eventually accepted to be the "true" Baldpate by the author. While the hotel originally gave away keys as curios, today it is known for its collection of more than 20,000 keys, usual, unusual and figurative, that have been offered to the inn by visitors, hotel guests, and dignitaries from all over the world.

A sampling of the keys hung from the ceiling in the Key Room at The Baldpate Inn

Keys are cataloged in a database, supported by a grant from American History Savers and maintained by rotating curators who offer insight into the collections through a lecture series and blog.

The Key to Occlusion at the Baldpate Inn

The hotel structurally survived the historic floods of 2013, although the road leading to the property, which also connects to local trailheads, was severely damaged. They received support from the History Colorado State Historical Fund and Colorado Preservation.

Saw mill at the Baldpate Inn