Wednesday, September 24, 2025

There's a castle, right here in Colorado.

 

  The "castle" is located southwest of Pueblo, Colorado in Rye on State Highway 165 in the Wet Mountains. 
      Named after its creator, the late Jim Bishop, construction on what was originally intended to be a simple family cottage, started in 1969.
   Over the forty years it took Bishop to build this amazing structure, he not only battle the elements, and hard working conditions, he was also engaged in a running battle with Washington bureaucrats over the rocks that he used, which
came from the National Forest surrounding his property. 
    Bishop felt that they were his for the taking, the government wanted to charge him per truckload. That dispute was settled. In 1996, he was challenged by the local and state government over unsanctioned road signs that pointed to the site. They settled the dispute by issuing official road signs.

     Jim was a man with a big heart, big ideas, and big opinions.
 RoadsideAmerica.com devoted a chapter to the castle and rated it "major fun" and describing it as, "one man's massive-obsessive labor of medieval fantasy construction". But it also issued a "parent's alert," warning potential visitors that Jim Bishop was "a tough-talking man with strong, extreme beliefs, and sometimes he expresses them bluntly and loudly. If you and your children want to avoid potentially offensive rants (involving politics), you may want to steer clear."

   Jim Bishop passed away on November 21, 2024, in Pueblo, Colorado, at the age of 80. His son Dan took over as the castle's caretaker.
                                  You can get driving directions here

If perhaps this got you in the mood for a good medieval romance, please try....  
The Dragon and The Rose https://books2read.com/u/3JOyOK 
Iron Heart https://books2read.com/u/m2AxAd
Promise Me Christmas https://books2read.com/u/4EYMYE

My Stories: 
Western Romance: Break Heart Canyon * Undercover Outlaw * Cowboys, Cattle and Cutthroats * A Cowboy’s Fate*Special Delivery. 
Contemporary Romantic Thriller: Fatal Recall
Medieval Romance: The Dragon and The Rose * Iron Heart *Promise Me Christmas. 
Victorian Romance: Lady Gallant * Victorian Dream 
Romantasy: The Fae Warriors Trilogy: Solace * Bliss * Portence 


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2 comments:

Reggi Allder said...

Thanks for the blog, Gini. The castle is gorgeous, and the builder was an interesting man. :)

Kristy McCaffrey said...

What an interesting structure. We have a castle in Phoenix as well, built many years ago by a dentist, I believe. It's sits on the face of Camelback Mountain.