A Literary Tour of Denver

If you are planning to take a literary tour of Denver, Colorado, then one place that should not be missed is the historic Stanley Hotel, just outside Denver in the scenic area of Estes Park. The Stanley Hotel is where Stephen King lived for a period of time, and which was also the primary inspiration for King's classic novel The Shining. The book spawned 2 different movie versions, both of which are shown on the in house channel at the Stanley. While the Jack Nicholson version may be more famous, the second version, starring Stephen Webber and Rebecca DeMornay, was actually filmed inside the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley, which has been a non-smoking establishment since it was built, offers free tours of the grounds, including the steam-powered car created by its founder, and a stage which was built just for the movie.

In Denver's Washington Park, the poems of Eugene Fields are memorialized by a statue of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod from his famous "Dutch Lullaby" poem. The writer, who also penned "Little Boy Blue", was originally brought to Denver, Colorado to be the managing editor of the Denver Tribune. You can also visit his former Denver house, which is right next to the fountain and statue.

Thomas Hornsby Ferrill was immortalized by Robert Frost, but was also a grand poet in his own right, being named Colorado's Poet Laureate in 1979. In addition to this, he wrote a play and a newspaper column, all during the 42 year period he lived in Denver and worked in charge of publicity and advertising at the Great Western Sugar Company. You can visit Ferril Lake, named for him as well as a place where he was known to take frequent walks, and his former home on Downing Street, which is now home to the Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

No literary tour of Denver would be complete without a visit to the Denver Public Library. While Mark Twain may not have lived in Denver, Colorado, the city (or at least the library) certainly had an effect on Twain's great work Huckleberry Finn. Because Twain had made some disparaging remarks about a prominent Denverite with ties to the library, a library official declared the book unfit for children and stopped allowing minors to check out the book from the library. When he learned of this, Twain published a letter to the Denver Library in a newspaper, after which they reversed their policy on the book. The Library was also host to Willa Cather in the 1930s while she was attempting research for a book.