While traveling down State Highway 165 West of Colorado City, CO., motorists are often shocked to lay their eyes upon an ornate, anomalous castle that looks like it would be at home more in the forests of Bavaria than it does on a roadside in the American west. They are even more shocked to learn that this huge castle, which has stood in some fashion or another since 1969, has all been built by the hand of a single man, Mr. Jim Bishop.
Bishop’s Castle, according to www.bishopcastle.org, is the largest one-man construction project in the United States, and possibly in the entire world. It also proclaims itself as the place “where dreams happen!” Jim Bishop began building the castle in 1969, when he was only 25 years old. Jim was originally aiming to only build a one room cottage for himself and his new wife to live in. Over the years, he has slowly added to the structure to the point where it is now the imposing roadside attraction that you see today. These days, Bishop’s Castle reaches a height of 160 feet. Bishop can usually be found adding pieces to the castle every weekend and for six weeks in the summer, which he takes as a vacation from his day job in the family iron working shop to focus solely on the castle. Whether it’s adding new stained glass, touching up the tower or ballroom within the castle, or tinkering with the fire-breathing dragon perched 80 feet in the air above the edifice, Bishop has consistently managed to find new features to add onto his creation.
Bishop has gathered most of his materials by collecting rocks from lands in the San Isabel National Forest, owned and operated by the National Forest Service. He has a permit with the government allowing him to glean as much rock as he can without the use of heavy machinery.
Perhaps the most miraculous thing about Bishop’s Castle is that for all these years of while under construction, it has been open to the public and free for admission. Bishop does ask for donations, which go towards buying new supplies to augment the castle proper, as well as the adjoining grounds, gatehouse, and walls.
Jim Bishop will turn 60 years old in the next year, and hasn’t slowed down the building process one bit. Battles with local government never stopped him, and it seems that at this point, nothing will. In fact, Bishop says that the day he stops working on his castle will be the day he dies. It appears that for the foreseeable future, Bishop’s Castle will continue to be the place where dreams happen.
Bishop Castle is open May through October seven days a week during daylight hours, and weekends from November through April. The easiest way to get to Bishop Castle is from I-25. Take exit #74 at Colorado City and head towards the mountains. (right off the exit ramp from the north and left off the exit ramp from the south) This puts you on Colorado state highway 165 and it's 24 miles without a turn to the Castle.
Dear Weird US;
You guys just have to check this out. I recently moved back to PA from Colorado, where I lived near a guy who has been building his own castle, BY HIMSELF, for the last 35 years. It is easily the weirdest, most impressive thing out there by one guy, and he has it open to the public, free of charge, while he is building it. They have a website, www.bishopcastle.org, for you to see for yourselves. THANKS! And keep up the cool work...we love it.
– Eric Geoffrey
Dear Weird US;
Hey, guys! First of all, I LOVE the Weird NJ Mags, and have (most) of them! I also received Weird US Book and loved it as well.
I have a place I visited in Colorado that I wanted to let you know about. It would fit in perfectly in the “Personalized Properties” section. It is a hand-made castle (that appears to be expanding quite a bit to become an “estate.” When we visited a couple of years ago, it was at least 3 stories tall. It was all made by one guy, and that’s all he did!
 The trip began with the entrance to his property. You can’t drive onto the property, so you have to park on the highway. As you enter his driveway, he has created a scale model of the buildings that is on some kind of wagon. As you walk up the driveway to the buildings, he has SEVERAL signs ranting about the US Government (if memory serves, they seemed to be focused on the taxation aspect). This just sets the tone. When you get to the buildings, they are phenomenal––turrets and all kinds of strange personalizations everywhere! The first floor of the castle is not too much to write home about. But the SECOND floor––wow! He has put a wood floor in that is really very nice, and on either side of the room are HUGE stained glass windows. Apparently, he even hosts weddings on the 2nd floor.
There is a catwalk around the second floor made out of wrought iron. (Didn’t look too sturdy, but we went on it a little bit!) You can go up to the third floor, but the building is still very much a work in progress, and I didn’t feel too comfortable (wrought iron again, but didn’t appear to be fastened on too tightly). I didn’t speak to the gentleman that is building it, but I did see him. My mother’s husband did speak with him, as he had been there in the past. I was just along for the ride on this trip, so I don’t even really know where I was! I just wanted to see if you’d heard of it.
– Kim Williamson
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NOT EVERY MAN'S HOME IS A CASTLE, BUT THIS GUY'S SURE IS!
Jim Bishop will turn 60 years old in the next year, and hasn’t slowed down the building process one bit. Battles with local government never stopped him, and it seems that at this point, nothing will. In fact, Bishop says that the day he stops working on his castle will be the day he dies. It appears that for the foreseeable future, Bishop’s Castle will continue to be the place where dreams happen.