Stephen King’s House – Bangor, Maine – September 13, 2023

We left Moose Brook Campground near Gorham, New Hampshire at 8:15 am on Wednesday morning. Cindy and I had done most of our tear down tasks the night before because of forecasted rain. The rain DID start at 4 am on Wednesday morning, but stopped by 6:30 am so we didn’t have to do our remaining tear down in the rain, thankfully. It was going to be a 7-hour drive to our next campsite. BUT, we were stopping along the way at a place I’ve been wanting to see for years and years…Stephen King’s House in Bangor, Maine.

The first work of King’s I read was The Stand in 1978 (though I much prefer the Complete and Uncut Edition which was published in 1990) and I was hooked. His memoir/style book On Writing, published in 2000, remains one of my favorite writing books and retains a place of honor on my bookshelves (well, ok, right now all my books are in boxes in storage, but you know what I mean).

So, last year when we were planning this trip to the northeast and I saw that we were going to be in Maine, I told Cindy, “We have to go see his home. We don’t even need to stop; we can just drive by and take photos.” and so we incorporated this planned “drive by” into our route.

As is fitting for a horror-writing author, the spooky Victorian mansion (which was built in 1858) in the midst of Bangor’s Whitney Park Historic District looks very much like a possibly haunted house. King and his wife bought the home in 1980 and have made additions to the property over the years, including the now-iconic wrought iron fencing and its gate featuring spiders, bat-winged creatures, and a three-headed dragon. The kings have not lived in the home since 2020, but it remains in place as the site of a non-profit and an archive of King’s works. He and his wife now mostly reside in their Florida home on the Gulf Coast.

Surprisingly, as we turned onto the street in front of his house pulling Nomad four hours later, we saw that the roadway was wide enough for us to be able to park on the side of the street, so we ended up stopping after all, lol. The houses in this part of the neighborhood are all large, well-kept and expensive looking. We saw another couple in front of the gate as we walked down the street, and by the time we arrived they had walked farther down the front of the property. That gave us time to take several photos of the house, the fence, the gate and us in front of the gate without disturbing the few other visitors who made a similar trek.

You can’t go onto the property or into the house, which was a shame. Still, it felt good just to be on the sidewalk looking at the former home of such a master of the macabre. I’m not one to idolize individuals, but his writing and stories have given me such pleasure over the years that I could not help “coming to Mecca” so to speak. The only thing better would have been to meet him in person.

But the house and the fence are pretty cool to see too!

It only took us about 20 minutes to get our photos and for me to just gaze at the house for a bit. Then we were on our way.

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