Gillette Castle State Park centers on William Gillette’s unusual hilltop retirement home above the Connecticut River, spanning East Haddam and Lyme. Best known for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage, Gillette designed the twenty-four-room mansion himself and oversaw its construction from 1914 to 1919, with an addition completed in 1924. Built of fieldstone, wood, cement, and steel, the house combined medieval Gothic, Victorian, and Arts and Crafts influences with inventive personal features such as trick locks, secret doors, hidden spaces, and built-in furniture. The estate also included a narrow-gauge railroad and landscaped grounds. Connecticut bought the property in 1943 and opened it as a public park.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain