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Gillette Castle State Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 4,399 Google reviews · Castle wedding venue in East Haddam, Connecticut
This stone mansion with unique decor & a medieval-style facade belonged to actor William Gillette.
Plan your visit
- Lodging stay overnight on-site — couples and the castle's own info mention accommodations; ask how many rooms and whether the wedding-night suite is included
- Phone +1 860-526-2336
- Website portal.ct.gov — most castles book tours right on their site
The setting
“If you love Sherlock Holmes then you will be transported back in time as William Gillette, the actor, realized his dream of an enchanted home surrounded by Mother Nature!”
Inside the castle
“It is beautiful both inside and out overlooking the CT river.”
“There are also wheelchair accessible options.”
What couples say again and again
“Beautiful state park with plenty of trails and well groomed grassy park areas with amazing views.”
“Glad to have been able to go inside, a lot of cool stuff inside, lot of interesting history, and just the architecture is amazing.”
From the reviews
5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - fabulous park! The CASTLE TOURS are seasonal so check before you go if you want to go inside. The website has information. We were there when the tours were only on weekends. But you can still enjoy the exterior out the castle, and the views, trails, restroom, picnic tables.
Great short destination drive down from Springfield MA for me to share with my sister from Texas and her BFF. Beautiful state park with plenty of trails and well groomed grassy park areas with amazing views. But the showstopper is the castle itself and the stories about Gillette and his life.
A beautifully laid out & well maintained state park, the Gillette Castle - aka: "The Seven Sisters Estate" (named after it being on the most southern set of chain hills it sits on) has so much detail in the stone & wood work!
Very cool place to check out. You can take a tour of the inside now, a few years ago we were here and unable to go inside due to I believe it was renovation from what I remember. Glad to have been able to go inside, a lot of cool stuff inside, lot of interesting history, and just the architecture is amazing.
Getting married at Gillette Castle State Park
A castle wedding is the once-in-a-lifetime, storybook kind — the grand staircase, the ballroom, the gardens and turrets your photos will live on forever. Castle weddings commonly run $10,000–$40,000+ depending on the date, guest count, and how much is included, so ask for a written quote for your season — Gillette Castle State Park doesn’t publish a set price, and tiers move fast. Two things make the tour worth the drive. First, see it at the time of day you’d actually get married — a ballroom that glows at golden hour can feel very different at noon, and you’ll want to walk the path your guests take from the gates to the ceremony to the reception. Second, bring your real questions: what’s included with the venue fee (tables, chairs, setup, teardown), the catering and bar policy, whether you can stay overnight on-site, the rain plan for a garden ceremony, and the music curfew. Fairytale dates at castle venues book 12–18 months out, so if the tour feels right, ask what’s open in your season before you leave.
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