It’s reading season in our colder destinations, and we came across some literary gems that take place in WeVenture cities, or at least nearby. Read on to discover the epic origins of Dune, the haunting settings of some of Poe’s most famous works, and the eerie mountain town hotel that so inspired Stephen King.
Pacific Northwest: Tacoma’s Dune Peninsula
Standing on top of a ziggurat-like mound with a perfectly manicured grass lawn and looking north over the gently rippling waters of Commencement Bay, it’s hard to imagine a time when Tacoma’s Point Defiance peninsula was anything but serene and pristine. Yet, for nearly a century, a copper smelter plant belched out toxic arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals. Industrial waste from the smelter was dumped into the nearby bay, creating what is now called Dune Peninsula. Enter Frank Herbert, circa 1950s.
Besides some formative psilocybin experiences, Herbert’s inspiration for Dune’s desert planet Arrakis came in part from the environmental devastation caused by Tacoma’s copper smelter. (And perhaps the notorious PNW undesirable Himalayan blackberry inspired Arrakis’s invasive sandtrout? It’s a stretch…). Since being designated a Superfund cleanup site in 1983, the smelter site, today aptly called Dune Peninsula, is now a peaceful place to take in the beauty of the bay and appreciate the sandworm sculptures, a nod to Herbert’s epic novels.
It’s worth noting that just three hours south of Tacoma, author Ursula K. Le Guin penned several of her most famous sci-fi books in her Portland home. North of Seattle, talented author Octavia E. Butler spent her final years in the small Washington town Lake Forest Park.
Northeast: Philadelphia’s Edgar Allan Pоe National Historic Site
Edgar Allan Poe’s brief tenure in Philadelphia would have been a tumultuous one: anti-Catholic sentiment was bubbling over in the nearby neighborhood of Kensington; pro-slavery protestors set alight a newly completed abolitionist hall; and a national financial crisis was further causing unrest among Philadelphia’s working class.
While many have scrutinized how these events may have influenced Poe’s work, visitors to Philly can decide for themselves, reading his famous works in the very place he penned them. Within the walls of the handsome Federal-style Edgard Allan Poe National Historic Site, it’s easy to imagine what horrors might be bricked up in its basement (The Black Cat) or something sinister buried beneath the creaking floorboards (The Fall of the House of Usher).
Midwest: Colorado’s Estes Park
It’s 1974. A young couple checks into The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. It’s October – the off-season for tourism – so the Rocky Mountain lodge is nearly vacant. Three years later, Stephen King publishes his psychological horror novel The Shining.
For those who watched the film adaptation, the Stanley would not be a familiar landmark. But if not for the “creative” touches of film director Stanley Kubrick, movie go-ers would immediately recognize the Stanley’s red-white colonial revival style rather than the more rustic Timberline Lodge below Oregon’s snowy Mount Hood.
Today, visitors queuing to enter the east gate of Rocky Mountain National Park might miss this literary inspiration, which is a must-visit for any Stephen King fan. The lobby’s red carpet, the carved pine wood front desk, and the warm gaslight-like glow of the hotel’s lighting fixtures are sure to evoke the setting King originally envisioned for his twisted novel.
