Did you know that we have a castle here in Colorado Springs? Kind of hard to believe when you consider that our city was founded in the 1870's -- a little past the, uh, golden age of castle building, and on the wrong continent entirely! It's called Glen Eyrie and it was actually built by our city's founder, General William Jackson Palmer, for his wife Mary (affectionately known as Queen) in the late 1800's. Unfortunately she didn't get to live in her castle for very long; the altitude of Colorado Springs affected Queen Palmer and she relocated to England, her birthplace, after a mild heart attack. General Palmer subsequently lived trans-Atlantically during those years, until her death in 1894, aged only 44. He continued to live in the castle until he passed away in 1909.
General Palmer was a bit of an Anglophile. He founded Colorado Springs on the premise that it would be a resort destination for the wealthy, and he nicknamed his city Little London. His fortune was built on the railroads and he lived to see Colorado Springs grow into one of the most popular resort destinations for the well-heeled. Palmer's Colorado Springs is truly a jewel, with beautiful Victorian mansions marching up and down the broad downtown avenues, the grand, belle epoque Broadmoor Hotel (to this day boasting five stars), and of course his private home, Glen Eyrie, a castle fit for a general and his Queen.
Glen Eyrie is now owned by the Navigators, an evangelical Christian organization. They have lovingly restored and maintained the castle and its grounds, and they welcome the public. You can go on tours or hike the extensive grounds (which are very wild once you leave the immediate parameter of the castle itself -- there are lots of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep up there!); you can rent it for conferences, retreats and events, including weddings; you can even sleep there because it functions as a hotel too. Glen Eyrie serves High Tea by reservation on weekends and it's always a treat -- it's a Colorado Springs tradition. I went there with my mom on Sunday, along with some of her friends. I don't even like tea very much, but it's so much fun to drink it in a real castle!
Here's a photo I took as I was leaving. I'll post another tomorrow that shows the tower. I like this particular doorway because it looks pretty gothic and you'd never guess it was taken in Colorado Springs! Unfortunately the light wasn't very good and I was in a hurry to leave, so I don't think my photos really do it justice. I'll try to get some better images of it in the summer and post them here!
2 comments:
What kind of rock is it made from? Any of that fantastic pink rocky mountain granite? I always fantastized as a girl that someday I would build a giant pink castle from that rock. That stuff that has the silvery flaky rock in it, that looks like cellophane, you know what I'm talking about? Of course you do, those Garden of the Gods formations are made from that great red Dakota sandstone, aren't they? It's the neatest marble, I'm surprised they don't mine that rock more. Or maybe they do, and I just don't know anybody rich enough to have it for a countertop. haha
I know that pink stone you're talking about! This is a brownish granite though. Still very pretty. They do have another structure on the premises called the Pink House, and I think it's made out of that pink stone. I've never seen it. They do small weddings at the Pink House but I've never shot one there.
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