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Gillette Castle State Park
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Here's some pictures of Gilette Castle.

Gillette Castle is in a scenic location in the winding hills of East Haddam, CT.

If you are planning your wedding this summer, you might want to consider this location.

The park is pretty big and very scenic. The stonework for the castle and surrounding buildings is like you have never seen before. This must be what it is like to go to England, of course we're in New England, right?

Gillette Castle State Park

The castle overlooks the Connecticut River Valley and there is the Chester Hadlyme ferry that you can take across the river. There is also an old steam engine at Essex that you can ride to see all the views of the river.

We saw them building a new snack bar and gift shop at Gillette Castle overlooking a very scenic view. There use to be a train that would take you on a tour of the property, and we heard they are rebuilding it. See update below.

Gillette Castle Balcony

Inside Gillette Castle is a museum, which has tours. It was pretty cloudy when we came here. It's a great place to go if the weather is not suitable for going to the CT beaches.

Becky Thatcher cruise

Gillette castle does allow you to have your wedding on the terrace. If you are planning on a Connecticut wedding, Connecticut-weddings.net has other locations and vendors that may be able to help you with planning your wedding.

Gillette Castle Visitor's Center

Once we crossed the Connecticut River ( see the Becky Thacher Ferry) on the Chester Hadlyme Ferry we were on our way to Gilette Castle. (see a picture of our ticket) Our relatives from Indiana was planning on leaving tomorrow, so we wanted to make their last day special. Our plan for the day was to go to Gillette Castle, then swing over to Foxwoods, and then go to Custy's All You Can Eat Seafood Buffet. This next picture is the entrance sign to Gillette Castle.

We pulled into the parking area, and I must say I was surprised at how small the parking area was, and it was half empty! We parked and walked to the new building that was just built several years ago, when we were last here. This is the sign going into the new Visitors Center building.

Inside the Visiter's Center at Gillette Castle they have displays, and old enlarged photographs with the history of William Gillette. I tried to take his picture, but sorry, I didn't do a good job. You can still see he was very handsome and come to find out, he was an actor, which I didn't know... A Picture of William Gillette

There were also many photographs of the Gillette Castle Train, and and an actual car from his train. The train is in a restoration processs. That will be cool when it's done and operational again. We'll have to go back and ride the train. So the collage here, is a couple of pictures of the steam engine, a note that was nearby about William Gillette's Train, and the corner right picture is one of the original cars from the train... Gillette Castle Train

I wish I could tell you which movies he was in, but we ran short of time to spend in the visitor's center. So here's a couple of pictures of him as an actor... William Gillette, the Actor

Inside the visitor's center, there was also a gift shop which our relatives were browsing. They came out with a shot glass with Gillette Castle on it. They bought the shot glass for a friend of theirs that collects them. But Vlad and I waited outside for them. There was a snack bar out here on the patio, and restrooms nearby... Outside the Gillette Castle Visitor's Center

We couldn't wait for them to get out of the gift shop so we could be on our way to the castle. Here is the path we took to the castle... The Path to Gillette Castle

Ferry dock entrance... ferry dock view... boarding the ferry... view of Gillette castle from the ferry.... view while on the ferry

Driving Directions:

I-95 to Exit 69, Rte 9N north to Exit 6, East on Hwy 148, go across the river, watch for signs, there's lots of them.

Also visit

CT Interstate 95 Exit Information

Eolia Mansion

Connecticut River Valley


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