On our way down to Mystic, Shae and I saw a sign for Gillette Castle State Park. This had been on our list of places to visit while in Connecticut on our 50 state road trip, so we decided to stop by on our way through.
We had Truffles with us and so were only able to walk around the grounds as dogs aren’t allowed inside Gillette Castle itself. It looked like a great place to tour though, so we returned a few days later sans Truffles to check out the inside of the building.
There’s a visitor center next to the parking lot, so we bought our tickets in there. The visitor center has a room off to the side where they play a movie about William Gillette’s life. It’s about 15 minutes long and well worth watching as it provides a lot of history and context about Gillette and the home you’re about to visit.
That room has a timeline of his life around the wall recapping a lot of the same information in case you don’t want to watch the movie.
The visitor center has a number of other exhibits relating to Gillette’s life. He’s perhaps best known for adapting Sherlock Holmes novels for the stage, a role he performed more than 1,300 times.
Gillette was responsible for much of how we perceive Sherlock Holmes nowadays, including the deerstalker, magnifying glass and curved pipe. He’s also credited with the origins of “Elementary, my dear Watson”, as that phrase didn’t appear in any of the books.
Having learned more about William Gillette, we made our way towards his home. The grounds of Gillette Castle State Park are beautiful, with stone walls, picnic areas and more.
Gillette referred to the castle as the Seventh Sister because it sits atop the seventh and final hill known as the Seven Sisters that run along the Connecticut River.
A staff member took our ticket and we headed inside the home. The tour is self-guided, but there are several workers throughout the home that can give you more information about that room and answer any questions you have.
The person who took our ticket came inside the home with us and highlighted the front door. There are 47 hand-carved doors throughout the property, all of which are unique. The front door had what looked like an elaborate locking mechanism, but actually seemed to just consist of an ornately designed beam that lifted up and down to lock the door.
The staff member pointed out a few other features of the home, such as the enormous wooden light switches…
…one of the many Tiffany lamps throughout the castle…
…as well as a hidden door that led to a secret passage. Gillette used this to both surprise guests he wanted to see and hide from visitors he didn’t want to see.
When taking a tour, you’re not supposed to backtrack through the home, so make sure you check out everything you want to see in that room or area before proceeding.
The entrance stairwell led to the castle’s spacious living room which Gillette called The Great Hall.
Like the castle’s entrance, the Great Hall had a number of interesting features including an old phonograph…
…a custom made poker table that had wooden tassels added for his 15-20 cats to play with…
…along with some strategically-placed mirrors above doorways and other locations in the living room. This was done so that Gillette could be upstairs and check who’d just entered his home, allowing him to avoid them if he wished.
You can see some of those mirrors above the doorways in the photos below.
The Great Hall leads through to the next room in the home which contains a wishing well.
Due to all the international visitors that the castle’s received over the years, the park has put together a display with coins from around the world that were tossed into the well.
One of the next rooms you’ll come to is the kitchen which is smaller than it was when originally built. That’s because some of that area has been used to create a fire escape due to it now being open to the public.
Another room you’ll get to visit is what seemed to be Gillette’s office.
This room had three separate doors on the left wall. The first was probably the nicest looking broom closet door you’ll ever see, the second covered the safe and the third was the other end of the secret passage you can see when first entering the home.
His office desk had a chair that was on rails so that it could slide back and forth.
There was also a bookshelf along the wall that was topped with all kinds of cat ornaments. Gillette loved cats (as exhibited by the tassels he had added to his poker table for them to play with), so you’ll see all kinds of cat paraphernalia throughout the home.
Another of the castle’s interesting architectural features is this wooden tassel. Although the property’s exterior and interior walls are made of stone, there’s a lot of woodwork and grass matting on the walls. Given the home’s location at the top of a hill, firefighters would’ve had a hard time accessing the castle, so a fire could be catastrophic.
To help counter fire in the home, this tassel was used to activate an emergency water system. This was made possible thanks to a 7,000 gallon cistern on the third floor. That water would then become available using hoses that were installed on each floor.
A home wouldn’t be complete without bedrooms and you get to view several of them. There are the blue and green bedrooms that were used for guests…
…as well as William Gillette’s bedroom.
His bedroom was smaller than expected, but it was smartly designed. For example, the lever above his bed was used to turn off the light once he’d finished reading at night so that he wouldn’t have to get out of bed.
The home has grass matting on many of the walls, but his bedroom is the only room where it’s been painted.
Another room now features exhibits relating to Aunt Polly. Aunt Polly was the houseboat he lived on for several years before building Gillette Castle and was named after a lady who looked after him while sick.
Other rooms inside the castle include the gallery and library which are side by side.
Despite Gillette playing Sherlock Holmes more than 1,000 times on stage, we didn’t spot any Sherlock Holmes books while walking around. Having said that, there were many bookshelves and books that all looked the same, so might be some there.
Most of William Gillette’s writing was dedicated to playscripts, although he did write The Astounding Crime On Torrington Road. This novel wasn’t particularly well received and it sounds like he preferred writing scripts, so this was his one and only novel.
It’s easy to see why William Gillette was so enamored with this location on the Seven Sisters as it has stunning views of the Connecticut River.
Seeing as it’s a self-guided tour, you can take as long or short a time as you like. We spent about 45 minutes inside the castle; there weren’t too many visitors the day we visited, so it might take a little longer on busier days as some of the rooms don’t fit many people in them.
The end of the tour leads you outside where you get to walk around the exterior of the property.
If you want to spend longer on the grounds, there’s a covered picnic shelter next to the castle, along with a field just past the parking lot that has many additional picnic tables.
Final Thoughts
Gillette Castle State Park was one of my favorite things we did in Connecticut. It has a great mix of history and architecture and it was interesting to learn about how William Gillette was responsible for so much of what we imagine Sherlock Holmes to look like.
Cost
Ticket prices are $6 for adults, $2 for 6-12 year olds and free for 5 and under. That’s the cost to tour the inside of Gillette Castle itself. It’s free to visit the grounds and parking is also free.
I think the exhibits and movie in the visitor center might also be free for you to view as they didn’t seem to require tickets for those sections.
I’d highly recommend touring the castle, especially because $6 is excellent value for the entire experience.
Address
Gillette Castle State Park, 67 River Rd, East Haddam, CT 06423
Cindy Gilbar says
My family n I visited this castle about 12yrs ago. All the kids where so little aging between 4-8. We had a blast. The the one memory that will forever stay in my mind is when my 4yr old stuck her head in the bed rails of the bed in the GREEN ROOM n got stuck!! I about died in panic thinking we would have to cut the rails to get her head out. I scanned the room looking for something to bend the bars just enough. As I was scanning I read the sign saying DO NoT touch anything. I started to laugh as I looked at my child n the sign. Only her lol. I did get her head out within 10-15 seconds of it being in the rails. Neither the bed or her was hurt. It will always be hilarious to me. She hardly remembers it, she’s 16 now. I wish I would have gotten a picture of that. But it didn’t cross my mind til afterwards. Anyway this is a beautiful place n won’t regret going.
stephen says
Wow, I’m glad that she was OK!