A Return Home to New England: Connecticut

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Bill and I have flown to New England to visit my mother and step-father for a week. We will also travel to Rockport, Massachusetts on the weekend to see friends and have lunch with my eldest brother and one of my step-brothers.

We arrived on Tuesday morning via the red-eye, drove an hour south to my mother and step-father's home in East Lyme (very near the place of origin of dreaded Lyme disease), took a nap and headed out for Gillette Castle, along the Connecticut River. I have visited here many times, starting as a young child. It was been renovated recently and you can no longer go up into the tower... The castle was built in by William Gillette, an actor and playwright best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. He added the hat and curved pipe to the character, and invented the line "Elementary, my dear Watson". He performed as Sherlock for more than 35 years....

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gillette

"Gillette Castle State Park is straddling the towns of East Haddam and Lyme, Connecticut, in the United States. Sitting high above the Connecticut River, the castle was originally a private residence commissioned and designed by William Gillette, an American actor who is most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on stage.

Gillette's estate, called Seventh Sister, was built in 1914 on a 184-acre tract on top of the southernmost of a chain of hills known as the Seven Sisters. After Gillette died, with no wife or children, his will precluded the possession of his castle not by any "blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded". Connecticut's government took over the property in 1943, renaming the home as Gillette's Castle and the estate as Gillette Castle State Park. The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Located at 67 River Road in East Haddam, the park consists of the castle and its grounds and receives 300,000 annual visitors. It reopened in 2002 after four years of restoration, costing 11 million dollars. It now includes a museum, hiking trails, and a picnic area, and holds many theatrical celebrations.

There are a number of oddities in the castle personally designed by Gillette, such as unusual doorknobs and locks, and a system of hidden mirrors for surveillance of the public rooms from the master bedroom.

The grounds used to have a railroad track with a working steam engine and electric engine that visitors could ride on, also designed by Gillette. Some of the track was purchased by Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut and is in use to transport guests around the lake. The remaining track was pulled up and converted into walking trails. From the castle's garden one can see the Connecticut River. The engines were donated back to the park in 1992, where they are on display." (From Wikipedia)

After the castle tour, we drove down to the ferry landing below on the Connecticut River, and crossed on the tiny car ferry to the town of Chester. From there we headed south and back to my mother and Ned's home.

The next day was cloudy, and after a run (me), breakfast (all), and gardening (my mom), we drove to Niantic, the town where I grew up. We ate lunch and then headed to New London, along the coast. It is two towns east of where I grew up, but I went to high school there for my sophomore year, while the East Lyme High School was being built. We were the first graduating class (103 students, I think...in 1969). In New London we visited the Morgan, the only remaining wooden whaleship still under sail.

On Thursday, after a run in the pouring rain, we did a few more back road drives, and visited the beach community of Giant's Neck where I lived until age 18. It was too wet for a beach walk, but we may go back tomorrow, before renting kayaks to paddle the Niantic River.

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Photos

Hadlyme Chester Ferry
It has been in place since 1769...!

Detail
The stone was brought from farmer's fields who probably laughed about selling the stones to some city boy.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Welcome back
Sounds like a great visit