Gillette Castle State Park

William Gillette played Sherlock Holmes on stage some thirteen hundred times and largely invented the visual Holmes - the curved pipe, the deerstalker in performance - and with the money he built this on a ridge above the Connecticut River between 1914 and 1919. It is fieldstone outside and eccentric inside: forty-seven doors, each with a different hand-carved wooden latch of his own design, a system of mirrors letting him watch the front door from his study, and a hidden bar with a concealed lock. He ran a narrow-gauge railway around the grounds and drove it himself. His will forbade the place falling to any "blithering saphead"; the state bought it in 1943.

What you actually see

• Forty-seven doors with unique latches - all his own designs.
• Mirrors angled to watch the front door - from the study.
• Fieldstone walls above the river - the house from outside.
• The old railway route - now a walking trail in the grounds.

When to go

May to October, when the castle is open; grounds year round. Two to three hours.

Honest expectations

The castle interior opens seasonally and can close for maintenance. Stairs are narrow and uneven. Parking fills on autumn weekends. The grounds are steep in places.

Nearby

East Haddam and the Goodspeed Opera House are close; the seasonal ferry crosses the river below.