Coming in at number sixteen on my project to visit every small town in Connecticut: Lyme!
Named after the town of Lyme Regis in Dorset, England, Lyme was incorporated in 1667, making it the oldest town I have visited so far. Situated in New London County on the bank of the Connecticut river, the population is 2,352.
You may know Lyme best for the eponymous disease, but this town is so much more!
My first stop for today was The Seventh Sister Estate, better known as Gillette Castle. “But wait!” you say. “I know for a fact that Gillette Castle State park is in East Haddam, not Lyme!” “Ahh,” I say. “The park may well be in East Haddam, but the castle itself, well, the castle itself is firmly in Lyme, my friend. And it is upon these technicalities that I shall build my blogging empire.”
Anyway, if you have lived in Connecticut for some time, or if you have ever traveled up the Connecticut river, you are almost certainly aware of Gillette Castle, but perhaps like me you have never visited. Now that I have been, I’m ashamed I never went before, because it is probably the coolest thing I have seen in my home state.
I won’t try to reveal all of her secrets here; for that you must visit. I will only tell you that it was the home of actor William Gillette, internationally famous in his day for his stage portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, and responsible for the image of Holmes that we all know, with the deerstalker hat and calabash meerschaum pipe.
The castle was intended to be his retirement home, and the rather shabby “pile of rocks” appearance was by design, inspired by the ruins of castles he would often see on his trips to Europe. Construction began in 1914 and ended five years later.
Upon entering the castle, the interior is quite imposing. The foyer is quite small, with a bathroom immediately in front of you positioned at about 2 o’clock. To your left is the only other option: the staircase leading up to the great room. It’s really very funny how different the rest of the house is, and of course this is pure theater from a man who spent his life on the stage.
As soon as you exit the staircase, you enter the great room, around which the rest of the rooms encircle. Dining area, conservatory, study, etc. on the first floor, bedrooms on the second. Two views from the second floor are below. The great room is an interesting space, especially because Gillette was not given to entertaining large groups, preferring to host one or two prominent men of his era at a time.
The conservatory, which is off the great room.
Perhaps I will reveal one secret, but only because I knew of it before visiting. Gillette’s famous bar which, once closed, only he knew how to open. He would tell guests to help themselves, then go upstairs where he could watch in a mirror as they struggled to figure it out. Even Albert Einstein was flummoxed by it.
The master bedroom. The bedrooms were surprisingly small, but that must have been how he liked it. One of the docents told me that the interior was, in some ways, meant to be evocative of an ocean-going vessel, which may explain the small “staterooms.”
The famous deerstalker cap, a briar pipe, magnifying glass, and tweed coat are pictured below as well. I’m not sure why they chose a briar pipe for this display, as I’m pretty sure Gillette mostly used a calabash meerschaum on stage, but perhaps he used a briar as well. I think briar may have been more true to the books.
On the third floor you will find an art gallery which, surprisingly to me at least, is as it was in his day. I assumed the museum had converted a room to display Gillette’s art collection.
There are additional rooms above, which I think were living quarters for some relatives, but we were not allowed to proceed upstairs.
Gillette, a railroad enthusiast, even had a 1/4 scale railroad around the property.
Leaving the castle, I headed up the road to the Hadlyme Country Market, where all of the sandwiches were, of course, Gillette Castle themed.
The market was very typical of the small country stores you will find in these sleepy little Connecticut towns, and I find that they are almost universally quite good in the sandwich department.
And that, my friends, was it for me. I got on my motorcycle and headed home. This was one of the better experiences I have had so far in my home state. Another great day in Connecticut!