Gillette Castle State Park United States

Legendary

The home of William Gillette, a successful early 20th century American actor.

Photo by Joe Mabel

William Gillette installed hidden mirrors around his living room. They let him watch guests from a balcony upstairs without being seen.

He'd lock the drinks cabinet with a secret pin, then invite visitors to help themselves and slip away. From above, he'd watch them struggle with the lock, then time his entrance for maximum effect.

Gillette was an actor, and he never really stopped performing. He played Sherlock Holmes on stage more than 1,300 times over a 33-year career.

He shaped how the world pictures Holmes. The curved pipe and the deerstalker cap both came from his performances, not from the original books.

In 1913 he bought a hilltop above the Connecticut River in East Haddam. It sat at the end of a chain of hills called the Seven Sisters, so he named his estate the Seventh Sister.

Construction started in 1914 and finished in 1919. Twenty men worked on it for five years, building the walls from local fieldstone over a steel frame.

Gillette designed nearly everything himself. He drew the layouts, the furniture, and even the light switches, which are carved from wood.

The castle has 24 rooms and 47 doors, and no two doors are the same. Each has a hand-carved wooden latch, and many are puzzles to open.

Then there are the tricks. A secret door let Gillette appear suddenly to startle arriving guests, and a hidden staircase leads to a concealed room, revealed only by pulling a handle.

He also built a small railway on the grounds, with three miles of track, two engines, and a tunnel. He drove guests around the estate himself.

Gillette died in 1937 with no wife or children. His will demanded the property never fall into the hands of "some blithering saphead who has no conception of where he is."

Connecticut bought the estate in 1943 and opened it to the public the following year. Visitors have been solving his door puzzles ever since.

Tour the castle and try to work out how the latches open, since tours are limited to 18 people and book up fast. Hike the Train Trail, which follows the route of Gillette's old railway through the woods. Ride the Chester-Hadlyme ferry across the river for the best view of the castle on its hill.