Day 42: Baldpate Horses and Livery

Horses have always enthralled me! As a young girl, I spent hours dreaming of riding horses. Staring out the car widow, I’d imagine the scenery rushing by was flying under me and my trusty steed. 

Where I dreamed of being 24/7

I have always enjoyed visiting The Baldpate Inn, and I’m still invariably drawn to the old black and white photos of the Baldpate horses and livery.  Who were these lucky folks beaming from the saddles? What trails did they ride and what stories could they tell?

Not much written history exists regarding the Baldpate Livery, especially during the earliest years, but we know it was an important part of life at the Inn. Horses were still a main method of transportation at the inception of the Inn, gradually replaced by automobiles. Although Baldpate no longer has stables, trail riding remains a popular attraction today with many stables in the area for our guests.

In the days of the Baldpate Livery, guests and tourists enjoyed trail rides into Rocky Mountain National Park, and up towards Longs Peak.

 

One of the most well-known characters associated with the stables was Chuck Malone. He ran the Baldpate Livery and guided tours for 20 years; our best estimate is that he started in the late 1920s. Chuck and his dog, Buster, kept things lively and entertaining, and often a bit on the wild side. Legends circulate of his fortune-telling penchant, and on occasion, riding horseback into the main Dining Room of the hotel! Chuck’s name and a Baldpate brand remain carved into the Wrangler cabin’s mantle. 

Care to have your fortune told?

This $1.00 lesson seems like the best buck you could spend for an adventure! 

Do you have a tale - tall or otherwise - of The Baldpate Livery or horses? Please tell us about it in the comments below! 

 Written by Liz Rodgers

Day 41: Find Your Keys Day! (National Make Your Own Holiday Day)

In honor of today’s holiday, National Make Your Own Holiday Day, The Baldpate Inn would like to declare it “Find Your Keys Day!” Oh, the joy and relief that suddenly comes upon you as you at last discover those mysteriously deposited keys!

In a collection of over 30,000 keys, we can be quite certain that there are many keys here holding stories of joy at being found. Most stories of keys being found include the owner searching quite intently for them, and in fact The Baldpate Inn staff has assisted many people in finding the keys that they are searching for in the vast collection. Read the story of an amazing find in our previous blog, Six Degrees of Separation in the Seven Keys.

Here are two additional stories from our Key Collection that were quite unexpected.

Our first story from Innkeeper Lois, who recalls a woman visiting the Key Room for the first time, who initially seemed unimpressed by our Key Collection. Browsing the keys, she suddenly screamed! She had found a key that had belonged to her grandparents. She didn’t even know they had been to Colorado. The woman, now clearly fascinated with the collection, said it was like seeing a ghost from her past.

In this second story, The Baldpate staff were the ones who were surprised at the finding of a key of their own – 6o years after it had been lost! In 1952, young Timothy Johnson “borrowed” the key to Room 7 of The Baldpate Inn, while visiting with his family. He returned it 60 years later, finding the key to a clear conscious.

Imagine the stories and potential joy these keys hold! Could one of them be yours?

Do you have a story of a key lost and found? Perhaps one that now hangs in The Baldpate Inn’s famous collection? Please tell us about it!

Written by Liz Rodgers

Day 40: What’s Left to Archive? Keys to Unlock The Baldpate Legacy

Baldpate really has a trifecta of collections: Keys, Photos, and our yet to be charted, Guest Registers from as early as 1918.  A long-term goal to help round out our history is to tie together the keys, the photos, and the guest registers.  So there is still lots more to do!

As our American History Savers volunteers worked to preserve and catalogue the boxes of “stuff” in the Baldpate's archives, they suggested we reach out to local historians for help as well. 

John Meissner was one of those generous people willing to research.  At one of our first meetings with John, he shared a huge inconsistency that he had discovered in our Baldpate story.  In 1938 Ethel had written in her book that Baldpate’s first year was 1917, so we had just assumed that as fact. What John had uncovered was clear documentation that the Main Lodge of our Inn was really not opened until 1918. It was one of those light bulb moments for me, since we did have all the original guest registers and the first was 1918!  Why that never clicked for me before, I don’t know!  

As we continued to dig, you can imagine our delight when we came across the very tattered Kansas City Star newspaper article that names our Homestead “Baldpate” and gives some understanding of Ethel’s 1917 claims. Although the main lodge did not open until 1918, the Mace’s were housing guests in “tourist cabins” in 1917.  

Guess I really should have been more discerning. I clearly remember the first winter after we had purchased the Inn, taking these treasured guest books home to look for names of royalty that might have visited Baldpate.

I did have to laugh at myself when reading the lists of names as I perked up when I found a Count – alas it was only “Count de Silverware,” but what was even more fun for me was to find the name of the “rich” people from the tiny farm town in southwestern Ohio where I grew up. 

Doodling is clearly not a new art form, as our guest books are packed with sketches and drawings, some by noted artists as well as some that were likely doodles of bored employees???  The margin of the Baldpate Inn register from August 1920 includes an impromptu Gaar Williams cartoon by the prominent American cartoonist.   Local artist Dave Stirling who works at the lodge, was a prolific contributor of sketching entries as well.

In recent years, our guest registers were real “keys” when trying to unravel the history and construction dates of our buildings. As room numbers were added, the registers told the history.

 It will definitely take more detective work, as really just the tip of the iceberg has been uncovered with the vast amount of information these books likely contain.

One can only imagine the truths that will be unveiled as we move forward to document these Baldpate guest registers in years to come.  

Written by Lois Smith

Day 39: Celebrities and The Baldpate Inn

Did you ever wonder how an early twentieth century Colorado mountain lodge could possibly have such Hollywood connections?   Me too!

Our historic guest registers boast signatures of Betty Grable, Gregory Peck and more. And Ethel’s old diaries talk casually of lunch with Roy Rogers.

Besides all the celebrity photos in our Dining Room, there are photos of Hollywood actress Lana Turner at Baldpate and news accounts of her 1941 visit to open Trail Ridge Road.

We know that most of the black & white photos in our collections are the artistic photojournalism of Mace brothers, Charles & Stuart, who during this time worked for the Denver newspapers. As celebrities came to town, they were tasked with covering the story and getting pictures. Many of the photos in our collection have been signed by these celebrities, often with a personal note to the Mace family indicating they visited Baldpate. Apparently these famous folks also told their friends about the Mace’s mountain retreat.

In the 1950s, another Hollywood connection was Stuart’s son, Stuart Jr. and his Husky dogs, popular as "Yukon King," stars of the CBS’s Sergeant Preston, TV series. The Mace Huskies were filmed both in Aspen (where Stuart Jr. lived) and even taken to Hollywood to film there!

More recently, actor John Ritter and family were often guests at Baldpate Inn when they visited the area. We loved when both John and his wife, Nancy Morgan, provided a signed photo for our collection.

We have certainly been honored by these special connections!

Written by Lois Smith

Day 38: Key Room and West Wing Construction

Over the years, as the popularity of The Baldpate Inn increased, its buildings grew to meet the needs of guests, and the growing collection of keys!  

What started with the Mace family Homestead grew into a bustling business of tourist cabins, and in 1918, the Main Lodge opened. Over the years our Main Lodge also went through several renovations, growing in size and functionality. While the exact features and timing of events is really unknown, our Baldpate Seven Keys Armchair Tour is a reflection of our best estimates.

From roughly 1921 – 1934, the main lodge had only a small west wing. But the ever growing lodging business, and the expanding Key Collection, demanded change.

In 1935, the final renovation to the main building took place, with an extension to the west wing on the main floor and additional rooms upstairs. 

 

This 1935 addition brought big changes, creating our Library and world famous Key Room. 

An additional entrance was added on the west end, which is now our wheelchair accessible entrance.

 

 

Library 1935

Here is an image of the Library, brand new in 1935. (Can you call it a library if there are no books in sight?)  No doubt you recognize the Old Hickory rocking chairs, and the handmade table that now holds the soup pots in our Dining Room. 

  

And here is the library today (plenty of books to enjoy!) 

Library 2017

But of course the big feature of this addition was the now world famous Key Room!  Before the addition, we really don’t know how the collection of 7,000+ keys was housed? Was it in this Lounge or in the Spooning Room?  We don’t see anything in our old photos that tells the story.

Lounge prior to 1934 now part of Key Room

Regardless, the “new” Key Room was opened with much fanfare in 1935! 

Key Room postcard, circa 1935

 

While the spirit of the Key Room remains the same, a few more keys exist today (we think more than 30,000)!!  This photo, taken from the January 2017 edition of 5280, Denver’s premier lifestyle magazine, captures it well.

Baldpate Key Room 2017

Come join us and enjoy these enchanting spaces. 

Written by Liz Rodgers & Lois Smith

Source: Baldpate Archives & Baldpate Seven Keys Armchair Tour

Day 37: Tourist Cabins of The Baldpate Inn (National Goof Off Day)

Today, we turn our eyes back in time, to the Mace family soon after they set up their Homestead. The Maces had a natural gift for hospitality which would shape their future, and the lives of many they encountered.

In those times, traveling was not easy or quick. Although the Baldpate property was located in the remote mountains of Colorado, the Maces were not destined to be lonely or have much "goof off" time! A stream of hikers and travelers passed by on the road, and the Maces provided lodging and meals to folks so often that it inspired the construction of several “tourist cabins.”

Ethel Mace described the decision this way, “We decided to build a hotel or inn because it seemed that the guests might prefer to be able to eat and sleep here without having to worry about supplies. It was kind of funny because neither of us knew anything about hotels. I had been in one once and Gordon had about three or four times. We bumbled along though, and when we had finished, there were more guests than we could accommodate.”

The Mace family utilized their considerable talents and applied them to the surrounding natural resources to create the cabins and eventually the main lodge, building them by hand from hand-hewed timber cut from the property. 

Over the years four guest cabins were constructed and remain popular guest destinations to this day.  While so far, we have not found accurate building records, we’ve pieced together the most likely development in our Seven Keys Armchair Tour.

Twin Sisters Cabin

Just to the west of the Homestead, our Twin Sisters cabin is believed to be one of the first “Tourist Cabins” built. As you may detect from the framing of “twin” doors on its front porch, this cabin was originally a duplex cabin, each with one small bedroom and bath.

Twin Sisters cabin was updated by the Smith family in 2002, while Jen and her husband Pete were working at the inn. Pete jumped right into our family’s do-it-yourself methods, never shying from the challenge. Twin Sisters is now an updated delightful four person cabin, with a cozy gas fireplace, luxury bathroom with “twin” headed shower.

Pinetop Cabin 

East of the Homestead is our Pinetop cabin, which we believe predates the Baldpate main lodge as well.  It was originally a two bedroom cabin that was renovated in the 1990s.  Nestled in the pine and aspen forest, Pinetop is now the perfect sweetheart getaway with its queen canopy bed, sitting area with gas fireplace, whirlpool tub for two, and a delightful outdoor porch with rustic railing.

Wrangler Cabin

Our Wrangler cabin was initially our most primitive cabin structure with just a stone fireplace for heating and a partial dirt floor. We are guessing it was originally the living quarters of the Baldpate Stables horsemen. 

One of the most colorful characters involved at the stables was Chuck Malone. His name is carved in the wooden mantle above the fireplace, along with what could be the Baldpate brand. Tune in for a future post to learn more about the Baldpate Stables!

Handyman Paul

In the 1980s, our Wrangler was also the home of the Baldpate Metro District’s handyman, Paul and his two dogs, Brown Dog and Black Dog.  Paul always had a story to share and checked in daily to see if there was leftover pie that needed to be eaten (most often with a generous helping of ice cream).

The Wrangler cabin was renovated by the Smiths in 1995.  It is now a delightful two bedroom cabin with original antique tub and native stone wood burning fireplace.

Vally View Cabin

Since the roof of our Valley View cabin is visible in some of our earliest photos we think it was constructed shortly after the main lodge, around 1921. Charles Mace used it as a home before his Tikitiboo homestead was built near the top of our driveway.

Valley View was also known as “the Mitchell Cabin,” derived from a family who rented it each summer for a number of years. In the 1990s, this cabin was the favorite of actor John Ritter, of Three’s Company fame, where he stayed with his family each summer at Baldpate.

Our Valley View cabin was the first big renovation project for the Smith family in 1989. Updated heating was added to create our delightful three bedroom cabin. Still, history shines in the original unique red stone fireplace and seriously long skis used now as only as wall decoration. 

So, when you are ready to "goof off," which cabin will be your favorite?

Written by Liz Rodgers & Lois Smith

Sources: Baldpate Seven Keys Armchair Tour & Baldpate Archives