06/11/2026
šļøStories from the Key Room šļø
Chapter 1: In the Beginningā¦
Before there were 20,000 keys.
Before there was a Key Room.
Before generations of guests traveled to Estes Park seeking mountain views, music, friendship, and stories.
There was a dream.
In 1917, Gordon McLeod Mace received a land patent for 160 acres in the shadow of Longs Peak. The document, signed during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson, marked the beginning of what would become one of Estes Parkās most beloved destinations.
But a piece of paper only tells part of the story.
An early newspaper article described the young Mace family living on the mountainside. Their home was already known as āSeven Keys to Baldpate,ā inspired by the popular novel of the same name. Seven replica keys hung on their door, and visitors traveling the mountain road often stopped to admire the unique home and its breathtaking setting.
The article paints a picture of Gordon and Ethel Mace not as historical figures, but as young dreamers building a life in the Colorado mountains.
They could not have known that more than a century later, the property they nurtured would still be welcoming guests and preserving stories.
Today, as we continue that tradition at Seven Keys Lodge, we are reminded that every story has a beginning.
This one began with 160 acres, a mountain view, seven keys, and a dream.
The full newspaper clipping:
Millions Have Seen the Features of the Young Woman Who Lives There
Hundreds of visitors to Estes Park, Colorado, have passed a little bungalow on the mountain road from the village to Longās Peak Inn and have noted with a smile the sign that hangs out over the road:
SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE
It reads, and seven keys hang on the front door for a knocker. āA summer home,ā the visitor comments and drives on. But it is more than that, and it got its name after the lonely inn in the Cohan play because the folks who live there see it when the slopes are covered with snow and passage through the park, and especially around the foot of Longās Peak, is largely by snowshoe.
All winter long there live here Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Mace and the adorable Mace baby.
Mr. Mace was the champion marathon runner of Colorado before he went from Denver to
homestead his 160 acres of mountainside.
Prospect Mountain lies in the foreground, Longās Peak is visible from a side window, and off to
the east is that wonderful valley stretching out to the cluster of white buildings which mark the
old Dunraven Ranch.
Sometimes Mrs. Mace and the baby are looking out the window as motorists journey up the road
to Enos Millsā famous tavern, and there is something oddly familiar about the face of the smiling young woman who waves cheerily at all who pass.
And the features are familiar because you have seen her face a thousand times looking at you
from some advertisement. She is āthe girlā in that famous railway company advertisement.
She stands with rod and reel, whipping the waters of a mountain stream. A fish basket hangs
over her shoulder.And here again she is the central figure of a dozen artistic pictures advertising a major camera company.
And there are others, many others, and the original photographs lie on the library table. The pictures were made by Charlie Mace, brother of Gordon.
The keys on the door are facsimiles of the key to the door of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
Many famous persons find their way to this charming home, and their names are left in the
hostessās registration book.
Over the mantel, carved in beautifully formed letters and signed by Arthur Chapman himself, is a line taken from that charming poem of the West written by Arthur Chapman, managing editor of
the Denver Times:
āOut where the smile dwells a little longer,
Where friendshipās grasp is a little stronger,
Thatās where the West begins.ā
And below it:
Out where the sun shines a little brighter,
Where the snows that fall are a trifle whiter,
And the bonds of home ties are a wee bit tighter,
Thatās where the West begins.
Out where the skies are a little bluer,
Where thereās more of reaping and less of sowing, Thatās where the West begins.
Out where the world is in the making,
Where fewer hearts in despair are aching,
Where thereās more of giving and less of taking, Thatās where the West begins.ā
