Gillette Castle

Yesterday saw the Professor and I drive to East Haddam to visit Gillette Castle.

If you've never visited the castle, here's a bit of background. The "Gillette" in the castle's name is William Hooker Gillette. An actor in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Gillette is best known for his portrayal of the character Sherlock Holmes, a role he performed over 1300 times in his career (fun fact: it was Gillette who came up with the phrase "Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow." Later, this became the most famous of phrases, "Elementary, my dear Watson."). With the wealth accumulated over his career, Gillette decided to build a semi-retirement home for himself atop a hill in East Haddam that was part of a chain known as the Seven Sisters. Not a builder or architect by trade, Gillette drew up ideas and had professionals interpret them into the castle, which stands on 184 acres of land. And, because of his career in theater, many of these ideas came directly from the stage (like lighting and wall soundproofing).

The castle is really quite a treat to visit. Gillette included many interesting oddities for visitors to discover, from the amazingly intricate doors (no 2 are alike in the entire castle) to the Tiffany light fixtures to his specially crafted fire extinguishing system, activated when a small icicle shaped piece of wood in a hallway's far end is tugged. There are even a series of mirrors that Gillette had installed to allow him to spy on his company, either as they attempted to raid his liquor cabinet, or as they first entered his main living room, simply by standing at the doorway of his bedroom. Being an actor, he also had the banisters on the second floor landing lowered to give an illusion of height as he stood above his audience below.

After his death, the state of Connecticut bought the estate from the executors of Gillette's will (a will that, it should be mentioned, insisted that the property not be sold to "some blithering saphead who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded."). They turned it into the park it is today and have done a great job maintaining the property.

It wasn't until I walked into the main room of the castle that I realized I had been to the castle once before. I remembered it instantly from a visit I took as a child with my parents and aunt. I remembered thinking the mirrors were very cool and planning on having a similar spy system installed when I built my castle as an adult. Needless to say, I'm still working on the whole "castle" thing.

If you've never been to Gillette Castle, I recommend a trip. They close after Columbus Day, so time is running out. However, they open again during the holiday season, when they erect a 19-foot Christmas tree in the castle's main room.