K is for King - Stephen King
Stephen King’s Maine is both beautiful and haunting. Driving around the backroads and through the cities you can see inspiration around every corner. Oh, you can’t? Well, take a look at that innocuous storm drain, the one right down the street. You see it every day. Then imagine looking down one day and there’s a clown looking back. Yeah, that kind of inspiration.
Come along on a drive around Maine, Stephen King’s Maine. Oh, before we take off, lock that door will you?
Maine is known for its writers. It’s hard to swing a lobster buoy without hitting a writer. Famous, not-so-famous, totally unknown, Maine has a writer on every corner. (I should know, I’m one of them.) Maybe it’s something in the air. Or the water. Or the long winters. Whatever it is, Maine ranks right up there in number of libraries per capita and someone has to fill those shelves.
Maine’s most famous author?
Is Stephen King Maine’s most famous author? Depends on who you ask. Some people have never heard of him, but will go into raptures about Edna St Vincent Millay or Katherine Hall Page. So, depends on your audience. For this piece, we’ll focus on Mr King.
Driving Stephen King’s Maine
Here’s a short tour of Stephen King’s Maine. These are places you can visit that are either mentioned in his books, obliquely referred to, or are possible points of inspiration.
- West Durham Methodist Church - Runaround Pond Rd, Durham, Maine (childhood church)
- Governor Percival Baxter’s pet cemetery - Mackworth Island State Park (possible inspiration for Pet Sematary?)
- Worumbo Mill - Lisbon Falls (most of the mill has been torn down, SK mentions working here)
- Railroad Diner - Lisbon Falls (possibly the inspiration for the diner in 11/22/63?)
- Dysart’s Truck Stop - Bangor/Hermon (inspiration for Maximum Overdrive)
- Thomas Hill Standpipe (aka The Standpipe) - Bangor (aka Derry)
- Paul Bunyan statue - Bangor
- Mount Hope Cemetery - Bangor (actual filming location in Pet Sematary)
- Bangor International Airport - Bangor (Langoliers)
- Stephen King’s house (photo above) - Bangor
- Z-107.3, Bangor’s radio station has this list of places to see.
- There are also guided tours you can take in Bangor. SKTours is one of them.
If you find yourself sitting dockside enjoying a cold beer and a lobster as a summer fog rolls in off the ocean, engulfing the horizon, shoreline, boats, the house next door, you’ll realize how incredibly scary ‘The Mist’ is in real life when the whole world is suddenly muted and impossibly gray and you truly cannot see your hand in front of your face.
Ready for vacation? (We promise - no sewer drains on our property!) Check here for availability.