The Haunted Castle Hill Inn, Newport: The Agassiz Ghosts and the Turret Room

Castle Hill Inn stands at 590 Ocean Drive on a 40-acre headland at the mouth of Narragansett Bay, with the Castle Hill Lighthouse on the rocks below. It began as the summer home of Harvard marine biologist Alexander Agassiz, became a hotel after World War II and is now an employee-owned Relais and Chateaux inn, the first in Rhode Island to join the group.

Its ghosts are quiet ones. Staff and guests have reported a woman walking the halls of the mansion at night, believed to be one of the Agassiz family, and some say Alexander himself is behind the fine china thrown in the pantry. For the rest of the state, see our guide to haunted hotels in Rhode Island.

The ghosts of Castle Hill Inn

The woman in the halls

The most reported ghost at Castle Hill is a woman seen walking the halls of the mansion at night. HauntedPlaces says she has been seen by several staff members, and OnlyInYourState reports that staff and guests alike have seen her. She is said to be a relative of the original builder, from the Agassiz family who summered here for more than half a century.

Nobody has named her. It is tempting to think of Mrs. Maximilian Agassiz, Alexander’s daughter-in-law, who the inn says was so frightened by the 1938 hurricane that she refused to return, but no published story makes that link, and we offer it only as a curious irony.

China in the pantry

The second story is livelier. Staff have said that fine china is thrown in the pantry with nobody nearby. Some blame the woman in the halls; others say it is Alexander Agassiz himself, unhappy about what has become of his house.

The older version, on HauntedPlaces, gives the thrown china to the female ghost. OnlyInYourState’s newer telling says Alexander Agassiz himself is said to haunt the inn and to like throwing fine china around. Either way, nobody describes it as menacing, and the inn’s own history pages do not mention ghosts at all.

The Turret Room

There is no ghost story attached to the turret, but it is the room with the strongest sense of the past. Thornton Wilder wrote about the turret room of the Agassiz house, and it is still bookable today as the Turret Suite, at the highest point of the mansion with views over the bay, the ocean and the lighthouse.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Turret Suite: At the top of the Agassiz Mansion, the room Thornton Wilder wrote about, with views of the bay, the Atlantic and the lighthouse.
• On the Hill rooms: Guest rooms inside the Agassiz Mansion, where the woman is seen, with antique furnishings and soaking tubs. Not for children under 12.
• Harbor Houses: Waterside rooms on the bay that were a favorite hideaway of Grace Kelly; some are dog friendly.
• Beach Cottages and Beach Houses: Rooms on the ocean side, outside the mansion and the stories, but with the inn’s best beach access.

History of Castle Hill Inn

Castle Hill takes its name from an old earthwork on the headland that looked like a castle from the water. Alexander Agassiz, a Harvard marine biologist and oceanographer acquired the 40-acre peninsula and built his summer home there. Wikipedia says the mansion was commissioned in 1874; the inn’s story gives 1875, and its timeline also gives 1885. Two years after acquiring it he set up the Newport Marine Zoological Laboratory on the property.

Agassiz gave the land for the Castle Hill Lighthouse in 1887 (Wikipedia says he sold it to the government for $1), and the light was completed and first lit in 1890. It still guides ships through the East Passage of Narragansett Bay below the inn’s lawn, and the Coast Guard still owns it.

The family summered at Castle Hill until the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, which cut the peninsula off from the mainland and joined the waters of Castle Hill beach and the cove. Mrs. Maximilian Agassiz was so frightened that she never returned, and the house was sold to businessman J.T. O’Connell.

In World War II the Navy used the mansion as an improvised base for officers, because of its position at the mouth of the bay. After the war it became a summer hotel, and Grace Kelly became a repeat guest, swimming in the secluded east-facing cove. Thornton Wilder stayed too and wrote about the turret room.

The inn was later winterized for year-round guests. It has been employee owned for more than 30 years as part of Newport Restaurant Group, joined Relais and Chateaux in 2008 as the first Rhode Island member, and has been recognized by Michelin.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book an On the Hill room or the Turret Suite if you want to sleep in the house the stories are about.
• Watch the sunset from the lawn or the Adirondack Bar, then walk the mansion halls once the dining rooms empty.
• Walk down to the Castle Hill Lighthouse, which Agassiz gave the land for in 1887.
• Traveling with a dog or children under 12? You will need a Harbor House or Beach Cottage instead of the mansion.
• Payment is taken in full at booking and you must cancel 14 days out, so be sure of your dates.
• Ocean Drive is one of the great coastal drives in New England; leave time to see the Gilded Age mansions on Bellevue Avenue.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Hotel Viking, Newport: the phantom party at the top of Bellevue Avenue
• The Outlook Inn, Newport: the former Pilgrim House Inn and its girl at the window
• General Stanton Inn, Charlestown: an inn since 1740, with a shoulder-tapping General
• Haunted hotels in Rhode Island

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Castle Hill Inn: Our Story
• Castle Hill Inn: The land that is ours
• Castle Hill Inn: Hotel Policies
• Wikipedia: Castle Hill Light
• OnlyInYourState: Stay overnight in a hotel said to be haunted at Castle Hill Inn
• HauntedPlaces: Castle Hill Inn

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