Hammond Castle Museum

80 Hesperus Ave, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA

Address:	80 Hesperus Ave, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA
Phone:	+1 978-283-2080
Site:	hammondcastle.org
Rating:	4.4
Working:	Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed 10AM–4PM 10AM–4PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 7

Amanda McKeon

This review is specifically about Hammond Castle as a wedding venue. I had my wedding at Hammond Castle Museum in August and, while the venue is absolutely stunning, my experience was completely ruined due to an enormous amount of miscommunication (specifically on the part of the venue rep, Linda Rose). Let me start out by saying that if you want to hold a wedding at the castle and plan to go through all of their preferred vendors, you will probably have a great experience. The castle allows you to pick your own vendors as long as you share which vendor will be doing what. Instead of using a traditional caterer, we decided to have Indian food brought in and serve it buffet style. Now, Linda knew about this for three months before the wedding date. FOUR DAYS before the wedding, Linda calls me up and tells me that normally the caterer is in charge of cleanup, which includes breaking down all tables and chairs, removing all trash, sweeping, etc. Since we did not have a caterer, this now falls to us, including paying a $400 cleaning deposit. Four days is not a lot of time to resolve this dilemma. We ended up hiring someone off of Task Rabbit (who was great), but unfortunately, was not enough for the high standards of Hammond Castle. When we arrived, one of the first things Linda said to me (the bride) was that I should have hired a staff of people. Again, I had four days to plan this! We had a series of problems throughout the night and Linda was incredibly rude the entire time. Yes, a lot went wrong and I can understand why she was frustrated, but being rude to a bride and groom who are paying quite a lot of money to be at your venue (which doesnt include anything besides the location itself) is really unprofessional. She was scowling all night, wouldnt communicate during clean up so we werent sure what exactly needed to be done, and was short with me and even openly bad-mouthed me to her colleague. We were doing our best. My family and friends were removing trash, breaking down tables in their gowns, and sweeping. And still, nothing but coldness from Linda. After the fact, Linda cashed our $400 because one trash bag was left behind and a couple of beer bottles were left outside on the premises. My husband sucked up to her and we eventually got $200 back. So all-in-all I would recommend Hammond Castle Museum for a wedding if you are able to pay the exorbitant prices the preferred vendors charge (although, I might now understand why the charge so much to partner with the castle)! Just be ready for loads of miscommunication...

Channa Yem

My family and I visited Hammond Castle yesterday and to say it was a waste of time and money is an understatement. Staff was so incredibly rude--they were absolutely miserable. First minute there ruined but we carried on. It was not kid-friendly. A bit pricey for what it was--we spent $39 (three adults, one senior, one toddler) for thirty minutes since they were basically kicking everyone out even though it wasnt 4 pm yet. I was taking pictures of my brother and his wife and some rude woman approached us basically berating us about having to pay fees to take pictures. I politely informed her that this was not a "commercial" shoot--I am simply taking pictures of my family members. She goes on to argue that they are nicely dressed so its a commercial shoot. Are you kidding me?! A summer dress and button-down shirt constitutes dressed up? I could understand if they were in a wedding dress and tux. Get a life, lady. I already gave you $39 too much. I said, we are taking the pictures, if you want to prohibit these kinds of photos, change the wording on your website since this is not a commercial shoot. Anyway, to all who want to visit: Gloucester is absolutely beautiful, the scenery is beautiful, the outside of the castle is magnificent, the Museum staff is horrendous.

Stefan Pahor

Do you want to visit a medieval castle without going to Europe? Then Hammond Castle is the place to go. Built between 1926 and 1929 (sorry it is not really medieval...) by John Hays Hammond this mansion is a real experience to visit. John Hays Hammond was a very prolific and successful inventor (father of the Radio control) he was also an eclectic collector of ancient, medieval and renaissance artifacts. His love for the antique didnt stop at the collecting but went so far that he wanted a proper housing for his passion. He built a "real" castle in the middle of New England. The mansion is located at 80 Hesperus Ave. Gloucester, MA and it is now a museum. The admission fee is $10 for a self guided tour. On Thursdays night there is a guided visit. The museum is closed on Mondays. It is a place that is really nice to visit with your kids, they will love the narrow hallways, secret passages, the big hall with a real pipe organ and the whole atmosphere is just magic. The grounds have some really nice views of the Gloucester bay and the ocean.

Lisa Edgett

Went with my 12 year old son to do something different..and get away from the ps4. Was totally worth it.. The architecture was stunning and the medieval, gothic nature of it, with its knight in armor and Hammonds war room, caught my sons interest from jump..even if he was still relating what he saw to games he had played, at least he was actually moving and not on a chair in front of the tv. We had heard "Ghost Hunters" had done an episode at the castle, so we decided to run my phones recorder for about a minute to give the castle spirits a chance to speak their mind and surprisingly caught a cat meowing AND a womans voice..although we couldnt make out what she said. Sounded like bill or a word that started with the letter P..but since we didnt expect to hear anything but ourselves, I wish I had tried it more than once. Great day..wish they did random night tours..bet they could take in more cash to do their glass canopy over the inside pool..especially since a well known ghost show has already done an episode there. Neat time!

Matt Witham

This is a review of the haunted Halloween event. the person told us at were you went into the castle it would take 20-25 minutes. But when you got half way through nobody had jumped out or try to scare you and the castle smelled like mold and made of concrete. The actors would hide in really obvious places and the overall time only took around 5 actual minutes. It also costed 60 for 4 people many other haunted houses are better and cost less. Also you had to wait 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours. So overall this is a bad haunted house and I suggest you save your money and go somewhere better

S. M.

Spectacular medieval castle and medieval collection overlooking the ocean. John Hammond was second in patents only to Edison ans is the father of the remote control and guided missile technology. An enchanting and mysterious place not to be missed. It was also on Americas most haunted places. I highly recommend a visit to this beautiful castle you wont be disappointed. It is also an event location for weddings, etc. The garden outside of the drawbridge and bell tower is a luscious, and shady place to take a rest while taking you back to a long ago time. Just gorgeous.

Barb Anderson

Unfortunately, I cannot give any more than a zero on this castle. We drove in early to be able to tour the castle, but it was closed. The website said it was open at 10am. At 10am someone inside hung a "closed" sign out without explanation. When I called the number on the website a woman answered and said that after Labor Day the castle was only open on Saturday and Sunday. When I told her that there were 8 people outside waiting to get in and that the website didnt indicate that the castle wasnt open, she simply said, "Ill have to look into that".