Taylor Swift Rhode Island Beach House, Watch Hill

Table Of Content

• Conan O’Brien's vacation home in Westerly
• Some of these you know. Some you won't. 10 celebrities with homes in Rhode Island
• History
• Inside Taylor Swift's huge $17m vacation home with a rich history that inspired one of her songs
• This is High Watch in Rhode Island, Taylor Swift's seaside mansion.
• A piece of Rhode Island history

Her first NYC real estate purchase was made in 2014, buying two adjacent penthouses in a Tribeca building for $19.95 million. She was released on $1,000 personal recognizance and scheduled for a District Court arraignment on July 14, according to court records. She spends a lot of time touring and in Nashville, but she does have a farm in Rhode Island and has talked about it publicly as recently as February 2023. She bought the farm during the pandemic and told the Illinois Entertainer that they have goats, donkeys and some other farm animals. Unlike those who have chosen an ocean view, Woods lives on the edge of Boone Lake in Exeter. The land, not far from the Arcadia Management Area, has been owned by his family for decades.

Conan O’Brien's vacation home in Westerly

Taylor Swift's House Was Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper's 'Perfect' Getaway - Us Weekly

Taylor Swift's House Was Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper's 'Perfect' Getaway.

Posted: Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It was built onto of Watch Hill, creating a beautiful view of the land when anyone looks out the window. However, purchasing the home, which is known as High Watch or Holiday House, wasn't just about luxury — it comes with a charming history, too. Taylor Swift’s new album, Folklore, was released today, and we’re obsessing over one song in particular that tells the story of the former owners of Swift's Rhode Island home, known as Holiday House. The song, titled “The Last Great American Dynasty,” is based on the lives of Rebekah West Harkness (known as "Betty"), a composer and philanthropist who founded Harkness Ballet, and her husband, William Hale “Bill” Harkness, whose family founded Standard Oil. Swift purchased the Watch Hill, Rhode Island, house for $17.75 million (in cash, no less) back in 2013, and has since held numerous—very Instagrammed—Fourth of July parties there.

Some of these you know. Some you won't. 10 celebrities with homes in Rhode Island

A look at the bar and kitchen area came from the Jonas brothers and, in a rare flick, Taylor herself. The kitchen features plenty of storage with ceiling to floor white cabinets and little knick knacks, including an adorable "T" decoration. Taylor's friends haven't been as secretive as her, showing off bits and pieces in posted photos. Gigi Hadid was the first to show off the backyard, featuring a temporary volleyball court.

Gigi Hadid And Bradley Cooper Are Using Taylor Swift's Rhode Island House As A "Love Nest" - Barstool Sports

Gigi Hadid And Bradley Cooper Are Using Taylor Swift's Rhode Island House As A "Love Nest".

Posted: Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

History

In 2015, High Watch inspired a proposal by the Governor of Rhode Island to impose a luxury tax on expensive secondary homes in the state. In 2017, Swift was sued over her decision to build a seawall on the beach as plaintiffs argued the beach had been dedicated to the public over the years and Swift had no ownership of it; the courts ruled in Swift's favor. L'Officiel has listed High Watch as one of the most expensive celebrity homes in the Americas. Built in 1930, the mansion sits on the highest point in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and features 700 feet of shoreline and views of Little Narragansett Bay, according to the real-estate site Zillow. The Instagram post of Swift and her "girlies" in Watch Hill "sittin', there by the water" comes after the songstress dropped the re-release of her 2010 album at midnight on Friday. "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" is the third in her series of re-recordings since the sale of her master recordings in 2020.

Inside Taylor Swift's $17 million seaside mansion where she hosts A-list parties

Harkness was married to William Hale Harkness, whose family founded the Standard Oil Company. After William's death in 1954, it was reported that Rebekah infuriated her neighbors with her quirky and wild antics. Swift includes details in her song about how Rebekah filled the pool with champagne, threw luxurious parties, and played cards with Salvador Dali.

A Colonial-style mansion, High Watch sits on a 5-acre (2.0 ha) seafront estate that includes a private beach. The estate is situated atop Watch Hill's namesake hillock, which was used as a strategic lookout point during some battles in the history of the United States. Linker goes on to suggest that this process helps define an artist’s aesthetic, forcing them toward their greatest strengths and their most original material. For this reason, someone like Bruce Springsteen, who recorded many more songs than appeared on his most famous albums, might have been a weaker cultural presence — or so Linker argues — if he had just dumped every song he ever wrote in the laps of his most eager fans. The best work would have been lost inside the pretty good work, and the sense of Springsteen as a very specific kind of rock music legend might have been diminished. Bow became one of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s, reaching a stratospheric level of stardom that exceeded her dreams without actually fulfilling them.

In this sprawling home, there are eight bedrooms, ten bathrooms, and eight fireplaces. Rebekah, who also founded her own ballet company, died of cancer in 1982. The house sat empty on the beach until Taylor bought it in 2013 for an alleged all-cash deal of $17 million. Taylor seems to confirm that she was the house's next owner in the song, singing, "Holiday House sat quietly on that beach / Free of women with madness, their men and bad habits / And then it was bought by me." Rebekah was born in St. Louis and was married to William Hale Harkness, who was the heir to the fortune of Standard Oil.

This is High Watch in Rhode Island, Taylor Swift's seaside mansion.

Thanks to traditional Fourth of July parties every year and visits from her friends, fans can get a little peek into the treasured, vintage house. The difficult bit of private property sales is there is only so much known about the interior. Swift has owned a total of three homes in Los Angeles, though her 1934 Beverly Hills mansion, purchased in 2015, is by far the most impressive. First owned by film producer Samuel Goldwyn, the 10,982-square-foot estate is currently being restored and turned into a historic landmark, a decision made by Swift upon purchase. Taylor Swift may be best known for her impressive music career, though with eight homes across four states, she may be adding “real estate mogul” to her repertoire pretty soon.

Dubbed “High Watch”, it sits on the highest point in Watch Hill, a historic district in Westerly, Rhode Island. It is situated on 5 acres of land and features 700 feet of shoreline with views of Little Narragansett Bay. The colonial style home was built in 1930 for the wife of oil magnate George Grant Snowden. It was then sold in 1948 to Mr. William Hale Harkness, heir to the Standard Oil Company fortune. The home features approximately 11,000 square feet of living space with 8 bedrooms, 10+ bathrooms, 8 fireplaces, 36′ long parlor, formal dining room, kitchen, 45′ long sunroom, lower level rec room with service kitchen, 5-car garage and more.

Whatever you are feeling or going through, we can almost guarantee there is a Taylor Swift song for that. However, the pricey pad is just one fraction of Swift’s over $80 million real estate portfolio. Rather than lavish paintings, Swift opted for black-and-white photos of her friends and family — which seemingly line one of her hallway walls. The home, which has eight fireplaces and 10 bathrooms, sits on 5.23 acres and features a sprawling back patio with a massive pool.

After her brief vacation in Rhode Island, she's back on the road and performing in Kansas City this weekend. On Monday, a 54-year-old woman was arrested and charged with trespassing outside Swift's home, Westerly Police Chief Paul Gingerella confirmed. The outdoor pictures show beautiful blue skies, suggesting that maybe parts of the celebration was a little belated in addition to the pictures, as this Fourth of July delivered torrential rain for much of the day, postponing firework shows.

And while she’s not busy on a very sold-out tour, she stays active when it comes to real estate. With her albums, her buzzy Eras tour for which tickets can sell for thousands and merchandise sales, the singer has amassed a net worth in the hundreds of millions. The property has been as controversial as the two-time Oscar nominee's politics.

In June 2011, she purchased the 5,600-square-foot main house for $2.5 million. Built in 1934, the main house is made up of four bedrooms and five bathrooms, along with a 2,000-square-foot guest house added in 1964. Dubbed the “Holiday House,” the Watch Hill mansion was bought by Swift in 2013, complete with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a past that ties it to the Standard Oil fortune. The songwriter spun the story of the house’s past — and the divorcee who lived there, Rebekah Harkness — into the song "Great American Dynasty” in her eighth studio album, "Folklore." Plus, there are another 5.23 acres of land that come with it, some of which include 700 feet of private beach.