Colorado is Home to the World’s Largest Public Key Collection
The beautiful mountain town of Estes Park, Colorado is famous for numerous reasons. First and foremost, it is home to the iconic Stanley Hotel which served as the inspiration for Stephen King's 'The Shining,' but there's another place in Estes Park with ties to celebrities that will absolutely blow your mind.
Colorado is Home to the Largest Public Key Collection
The place is known as the Baldpate Inn, a hotel in Estes Park which is known for being home to the largest public key collection in the world.
The hotel is over 100 years old and gets its name from a 1939 book titled "Seven Keys to Baldpate," which was made into numerous movies over the years. You can find the hidden gem at 4900 S. Highway 7 in Estes Park, Colorado.
While it is a real hotel in which you can stay, the most remarkable thing about the hotel is what's known as the "key room." In this room, you'll find over 30,000 keys from all over the world.
Some of the most famous keys in the collection are a key to Mozart's wine cellar, another that once gained access to Jack Benny's dressing room, a key to the United States Capital Building, and even one from a World War I submarine.
Originally, the hotel didn't collect keys but rather gave them to guests as a kind of souvenir following their stay. However, this proved to get expensive and the hotel decided instead to keep keys from guests.
On that note, visiting the hotel's key room is free of charge, but it's encouraged that you leave a key behind after your visit.