The Stanley Hotel

A man was told he was dying, moved to the mountains, recovered, and built a hotel out of gratitude. Then a novelist stayed a night in it.

Freelan Oscar Stanley co-founded the Stanley Motor Carriage Company and built steam cars. In 1903 a life-threatening resurgence of tuberculosis sent him looking for the treatment of the day: fresh dry air, sunlight and a hearty diet. He and his wife Flora reached Denver in March and, on the recommendation of Dr Sherman Grant Bonney, moved to Estes Park in June for the rest of the summer. His health improved dramatically over the season. He decided to come back every year, and he lived to 91.

By 1907 he had recovered completely, and he was not satisfied with the rustic accommodation and slow social life of his new summer home. He set out to turn Estes Park into a resort town. Construction started that year on a 48-room grand hotel aimed at the moderately wealthy urbanites of the Stanleys' circle back east, and at consumptives looking for the climate. The land was bought in 1908 through representatives of the 4th Earl of Dunraven. The hotel opened on 4 July 1909.

It is Georgian Revival, now 140 rooms, about five miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, with views over Lake Estes, the Rockies and Longs Peak. The hotel and its surrounding structures are on the National Register of Historic Places. In May 2025 it was reported sold for 400 million dollars to the Stanley Partnership for Art Culture and Education, a public-private partnership involving the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority, former owner John Cullen IV as chairman, and private bond investors.

It is widely called one of America's most haunted hotels, and the reason is literary. The Stanley was the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's 1977 novel The Shining and the 1980 film, and it was a filming location for the related 1997 television miniseries. The hotel bills itself, accurately enough, as a spirited building.