While there are countless reasons to visit Maine, fans of the macabre and the bizarre will always associate the state with author Stephen King. If you are a Stephen King fan, and happen to be taking a walk in Bangor Maine, you can take a casual stroll past the Stephen King House. Most avid readers of author Stephen King would probably agree that the Stephen King House is exactly what they imagined it would look like.
The Stephen King House is known as the William Arnold House. It was built in 1858 for the sum of $7,000. An ornate wrought iron fence guards the property and grounds of the house. Check out the scary wrought iron bat statues. They are creepy, but they are so “Stephen King.” Stephen King’s wife has her office on the first floor of the cylindrical tower of the Stephen King House. King himself does his work in the rear, above the swimming pool dressing rooms. Rumor has it that there is a ghost that haunts the living room of the Stephen King House.
If you are a true fan of author Stephen King, you will definitely want to take the Stephen King tour of Maine. Many of the towns in author Stephen King’s books are fictionalized versions of towns where King has lived or frequented. For example, when King was 11 years old, his family settled in Durham, which is a small town south of Auburn. Durham is mentioned in many of King’s novellas. Durham was the inspiration for the fictional town of Castle Rock, which is featured in many of Stephen King’s novels, such as The Dead Zone, Cujo and Needful Things.
The town Derry, which is featured in IT, actually represents Bangor. While you are visiting Bangor, stop in at Bett’s Bookstore. Owner Stuart Tinker sells original T-shirts that feature a map of cities and towns, real and fictional, in King's Maine.
As a dedicated resident of Maine, author Stephen King found himself enchanted by the State’s rugged coastline. As such, when he wrote the miniseries Storm of the Century, the town of Mount Desert Island was transformed into the fictional Little Tall Island. Did you see the movie Pet Sematary? It was filmed in the quiet coastal community of Hancock Maine.
As long as you are a Stephen King fan visiting Maine, you should pay a visit to King’s birthplace, Portland Maine. Portland was originally called Machigonne by the Native American people who first lived there. In 1632, it was settled by the British as a fishing and trading settlement. In the 1786, its name was changed to Portland.
