Gillette State Park

This is the former retirement property of William Gillette, no connection to the razor people. He was a pretty cool guy. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was having trouble getting his Sherlock Holmes picked up by Broadway/playhouses, so Gillette took it in hand and made the changes necessary for it to be conducive to the stage. He then went on to play Sherlock around 1030 times over the course of his career. It is due to his implementation of his personality that we owe our Sherlock hat and pipe to. His castle is pretty cool. HE had everything done by hand, including all the carpentry. Every light switch in his house is made to look like a railroad switch, and he laid something like 3 miles of train track around his property and had a mini train. they have since turned it into walking paths, very pretty. Anyway, his house is made of rock, wood and these rush mats on the walls. He wasn't too ostentatious, as in giant rooms etc, but his house was beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice. It was really fun to go and see. I'm going to try to put up one of those albums that T has figured out, but you may have to check back in a day or two.