With financial resources being very limited, the Mace family used their talents with what natural resources were available and constructed the inn from hand-hewn timber cut from the property. Massive stone fireplaces were built to provide warmth and hot water. The Baldpate was opened boasting such amenities as hot running water, electric lights, and indoor plumbing!

The Inn was named after the mystery novel, Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers, who upon visiting the property stated that the inn was so similar to the heretofore "imaginary" Baldpate Inn, that the Mace's hotel would become the "real" Baldpate Inn. In the novel, each of seven visitors traveled to the closed-in-wintertime hotel, and thinks that he or she has the only key to the Inn. In keeping with the story line of the novel, the Mace family gave each visitor to the Inn their very own key. This tradition continued until the outbreak of World War I, when the price of metal became so expensive that the Owners were no longer able to give keys away. The loyal guests who returned yearly were so disappointed that they began their own tradition of bringing a key back to the inn with them each year. It is said that the competition between guests became so fierce to bring the best and most exotic each year that the Mace's decided to begin a display of all the keys. This was the beginning of the world's largest key collection (as shown in the two pictures above). The collection boasts over 20,000 keys including examples from the Pentagon, Westminster Abby, Mozart's wine cellar, and even Frankenstein's castle to name a few. Currently we are working with American History Savers to preserve and catalogue our collections.