In the colorful city of Bangor, Maine, there’s a very special mansion with blood-red walls and an ominous gate featuring winged monsters. The residence perfectly fits its owner, best-selling author Stephen King, and it’s about to become an exclusive museum and writer’s retreat—much to the delight of fans.
Fans, rejoice
Located at 47 West Broadway, Bangor, the mansion has long been a staple of King’s career. And last Wednesday, the Bangor City Council finally approved, by unanimous decision, a request by King and Tabitha (his wife) to officially register the property as a non-profit. This would allow the previous residence to be refitted to harbor an archive of King’s work, as well as serve as a small retreat for writers from all around the world.
“The King Family has been wonderful to the City of Bangor over time and have donated literally millions of dollars to various causes in the community,” Ben Sprague, a city councilor, said to Rolling Stone. “Preserving his legacy here in Bangor is important for this community.”
A small community
But, since it’s a small community with few neighbors, the couple didn’t want the house to become this big thing that would make thousands of travelers visit every week, disrupting the otherwise peaceful lives of the residents. As Bangor planning officer David Gould told New England Cable News: “They did not want the house to become a Dollywood or some kind of tourist attraction. That would bring all sorts of people to the neighborhood, and they have other neighbors that live there.”
So, King and his wife determined there would be restricted access to the residence, available only through an appointment, and opened only for up to five writers at a time.
But despite their efforts, Stephen King’s house has inevitably become an attraction of sorts for many of his fans, not only for its King-esque style and intrinsic appeal, but because of the role the town played in Stephen King’s own history as a writer.
According to King himself, when he first moved to Bangor, he was just starting to develop the idea for IT. “I had a very long book in mind,” he wrote in 1983. “A book which I hoped would deal with the way myths and dreams and stories — stories, most of all — become a part of the everyday life of a small American city.” King explained he even visited the town library to research its history, thus finding the inspiration to create the fictional community of Derry, Maine that appears in the books.
Any King fan would be thus thrilled to visit the writer’s residence. Especially if they’re writers looking for the most epic retreat spot you could ever ask for.
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