Located in Central Colorado, Bishop Castle has quickly become one of the most popular roadside attractions in the state. In 1959, fifteen-year-old Jim Bishop dropped out of school and purchased a 2.5 acre piece of land for $450. This piece of land was located alongside southern Colorado’s San Isabel National Forest. In order to earn enough money to purchase the land, Bishop worked random side jobs and helped his father, Willard. Although Bishop funded the land purchase, his parent’s legally owned the land since Bishop was only a teenager.
Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre provides a unique natural landscape in which to listen to live music. Surrounded by and created from the incredible red sandstone monoliths from which it gets its name, the park offers a world-class line-up of musicians during concert season, from late spring to fall, the Film on the Rocks program and yoga sessions. You can walk around the stage and explore trails throughout the park.
The Denver Art Museum is a world-class conservatory of over 70,000 works of art from around the world and in varied media. It has an excellent collection of American Indian art, which represents nearly every tribe across North America, and has the world’s foremost collection of American West art. Lovers of European art will be delighted by its inclusion of works by Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, and Pissarro.
In the spring of 1971, Bishop and Willard decided to use a large metal tank to supply the cabin with water. Since the metal cylinder was 40 feet tall, Bishop and Willard continued to build the walls of what was originally a small cabin. Friends and neighbors of the cabin would consistently joke with Bishop and Willard that they were building a castle. Eventually, Bishop decided to turn his original plans of a small cabin to a large castle.
There are plenty of activities for outdoors lovers here. Explore the trails, you’ll find that they lead you through forests and wetlands that surround the dunes. You should also be sure to visit Medano Lake, one of several alpine lakes and filled with trout if you’re a fisherman. Trek out to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains – the Medano Pass Primitive Road guides you through a canyon until you reach the mountains.
The forty-five mile trip takes four and a half hours to ride, as it is still coal-fired, and winds along narrow mountain paths and in and out of canyons. Historic narration is available on the trains for interested tourists. Both the Silverton and Durango ends of the line have railroad museums; the Durango Museum contains artifacts pertaining to the history of railroading, and the Silverton Museum displays a Baldwin Locomotive from 1902 in the original 1882 Depot.