Bishop Castle

Bishop Castle is a medieval-inspired stone-and-steel folly in southern Colorado’s Wet Mountains, built largely by James Roland “Jim” Bishop after he began a family cottage there in 1969. What started as a small project evolved into a sprawling roadside attraction and a striking example of individual vision and labor. Its history includes long disputes with federal, local, and state authorities, the 1988 death of Bishop’s four-year-old son Roy in a logging accident at the site, a 2014–15 property-control conflict resolved in the family’s favor, and a 2018 fire that destroyed nearby buildings but spared the mostly stone castle. After Bishop’s death in 2024, his son Dan became caretaker.

Colorado · United States