Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United States / Newport / Castle Hill Inn and Resort
Castle Hill Inn and Resort
Newport, Rhode Island, United States · Independent · High Luxury
Alexander Agassiz, the Harvard oceanographer whose family's copper fortune funded his science, built his summer mansion on Castle Hill in 1874 and turned it into a gathering place for Newport's intellectual elite, hosting Town and Country Club outings where Mark Twain once gave a lecture. The Hurricane of 1938 tore through hard enough to cut the peninsula off from the mainland and frightened Agassiz's daughter-in-law away for good; the estate became a hotel in 1945 and has kept forty private waterfront acres and its nineteenth-century atmosphere ever since. MICHELIN awarded it Two Keys in 2025.
- 33 rooms
- Opened 1945
- Neighborhood: Castle Hill
About Castle Hill Inn and Resort
- Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European to describe Narragansett Bay in writing, called it Refugio for the quality of its harbor.
- During World War II the mansion served as informal lodging for naval officers before its 1945 conversion into a hotel.
- Grace Kelly and Thornton Wilder both stayed here over the decades since.
History
The forty acres of Castle Hill have been known by that name for centuries, the promontory's resemblance to a medieval fortification — perhaps reinforced by earthworks built here by the Narragansett people — striking European sailors entering Narragansett Bay as early as the sixteenth century. Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European to describe the bay in writing, called it Refugio for the quality of its harbor. William Brenton, one of Rhode Island's founding colonial governors, held the land as part of a large estate called Hammersmith in the seventeenth century, and John Collins, the third governor of the State of Rhode Island, owned it in the following century. The forty acres that became the inn were the summer estate of Alexander Agassiz, the Harvard marine biologist and oceanographer who was also one of the great industrial fortunes of the Gilded Age — his family's copper mining company generated wealth that Agassiz directed into scientific research.
Agassiz had his summer home built on Castle Hill in 1874 and 1875, a shingle-style mansion overlooking the bay that became a gathering place for Newport's intellectual elite. Julia Ward Howe organized a Town and Country Club among Newport's luminaries, and outings to Agassiz's Castle Hill included scientific lectures with Mark Twain among the guest speakers. Agassiz died in 1910 and the property passed to his heirs. During the hurricane of 1938, the waters of Castle Hill Beach and the cove merged, cutting the peninsula off from the mainland; the damage so frightened Agassiz's daughter-in-law that she refused to return.
The family sold the estate in 1939 to entrepreneur J.T. O'Connell, and during World War II the mansion served as informal lodging for naval officers. At the war's end, O'Connell converted it into a summer hotel — the cognoscenti's retreat in Newport that it has remained ever since. Accommodations were eventually winterized, making Castle Hill a year-round property.
Today operating as a member of Relais and Chateaux, the inn encompasses rooms in the original Agassiz mansion, beach houses, and cottages across its forty private waterfront acres, with the lawns, the bay views, and the nineteen-century atmosphere largely intact. MICHELIN awarded Castle Hill Inn Two Keys in its 2025 guide.
The setting
1.3 miles from Brenton Point State Park.
Restaurants and bars
- Aurelia — Restaurant
Experiences
- Thanksgiving Feast — Traditional three-course family-style Thanksgiving feast with live music through the afternoon, reservations 11:30AM - 4:00PM, $135 per person.
- Christmas Day Brunch — Leisurely three-course festive brunch with live music, reservations 11:30AM - 4:00PM, $95 per person.
- New Year's Eve Dinner — Four-course dinner with a champagne toast and live music, 6:00PM - 9:00PM, $185 per person, with wine and non-alcoholic pairings offered.
- New Year's Day Brunch — Three-course brunch with live jazz throughout the afternoon, 11:30AM - 3:00PM, $85 per person.
Amenities
- Spa
- Private beach
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Four Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star (2026)
- MICHELIN Two Keys (2025)
Open Castle Hill Inn and Resort in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
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