Gillette Castle State Park, East Haddam
The town of East Haddam is located in eastern Middlesex County on the Connecticut River and was once called Machimoodus or the place of noises by the native peoples. In 1662, settlers purchased the land for 30 coats, and the first permanent European residents established homesteads in 1685. In 1734 the town of East Haddam broke from Haddam and incorporated. Early commerce and industry included timber farming, shipbuilding, tanneries, and blacksmiths, and by the mid- 1800s retail shops, taverns, and mills proliferated in the area. Today, the town is home to the Goodspeed Opera House, a destination for theater-goers, and Gillette Castle, a Connecticut state park.
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A Bird’s-eye View of East Haddam
In 1880, East Haddam was already a popular tourist destination and, despite its small size, boasted two steamboat landings to accommodate visitors. …[more]
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