Gillette Castle State Park is located at 67 River Road East Haddam, Connecticut. This state park is home to a medieval fortress owned by actor William Gillette known for his role as Sherlock Holmes. This property has picnic areas, hiking trails, beautiful views and the main focal point being Gillette Castle.
At the Visitor Center you pay a small fee to enter the castle. When we visited it was a timed entry. This gave us enough time to walk the grounds around the castle and enjoy the views. Gillette Castle itself sits on a hill overlooking the Connecticut River.
The castle is beautiful inside and out.
Inside is a self guided tour with staff around the home to provide history and answer questions. The woodwork was absolutely stunning. Mr. Gillettes love of cats was evident around the castle.
I personally fell in love with the conservatory and could have stayed in there all day long.
It took about 30 minutes to walk around the inside of Gillette Castle visiting every room and admiring all the attention to detail in the design.
After exploring the castle we drove to another parking area within the state park to hike into an old railroad tunnel. This part of the state park you can access for free. It was an easy hike to the tunnel, a little over a half mile oneway. The tunnel was pretty cool to check out and worth the walk.
In total we spent about an hour and half exploring the grounds and Gillette Castle. We could have spent more time hiking many of the trails. If you are in the area and love history and castles I highly recommend checking it out.
