I had a perfect-day visit to Gillette Castle in East Haddam, CT this past weekend. Now a Connecticut State Park, the estate once was the home of William Gillette- noted actor, director, inventor and train enthusiast. Amazing life and career for a pioneer in his field. I highly recommend a visit, but go when the castle is open.
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and be sure to visit the Valley Railroad when you're up there
add to the list...Essex Steam Train and the Shoreline Trolley Museum
Essex used to drop you off for a short walk to the Castle but haven't done it since covid. Sad, nice walk to the ferry to take you across the river and walk up to the castle.
Haven't been there in a while, but enjoyed it. Kids were younger when we went, and I brought my tailgating grill, and cooked up hot dogs in picnic area.
beautiful place my parents took us there to walk the old track line and a picnic and then took us to Essex steam , that was my summer thing in early 70s.
We were there many times before I moved from Old Lyme. We always took our guests to the castle, the view from the rampart overlooking the non-industrial tree lined Connecticut River is magnificent. The whole area, as mentioned by others is loaded with train enthusiast opportunities. If you do go, try to catch a live show at the nearby Goodspeed Opera House too, because it really is another great experience for sure. Here a few pictures pulled from the web that were taken last year (Thank you Jody Smith, where ever you are...). So, as has been said, its a great area for Trains and R&R. Chuck 242
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