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Swift purchased the house for US$17,750,000 in 2013, and inspired by its history and Harkness, released the song "The Last Great American Dynasty" in 2020. Taylor Swift's Rhode Island home has eight fireplaces, ten bathrooms, an expansive back patio and a larger-than-life pool. The Lavender Haze singer has retained much of the house's traditional style from the old days. It turns out that Swift's Holiday House has a long history of wealth and lavish parties, and is renowned among locals for its coastal views. High Watch, formerly named Holiday House but locally known as the Harkness House, is an 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) home situated in Watch Hill, a historic district in Westerly, Rhode Island. Fans got a rare glimpse into Swift's home life in 2016 when she made headlines for an elaborate Fourth of July party, which featured several of her A-list celebrity friends in attendance, including Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and GiGi Hadid.
Taylor Swift picks up Harkness’ role
She succeeded her high-society muse, Rebekah Harkness, as the Rhode Island home's next famous owner. Even though she never actually met the old heiress, Taylor was avidly influenced by Harkness, for whom she wrote the Folklore song, The Last Great American Dynasty. Sneak peeks of her private beachfront and her white kitchen were also seen in the snaps she shared. Back in 2015, several of her famous friends — including Gigi Hadid, Joe Jonas and Martha Hunt — shared photos from the fun-filled weekend to their Instagrams.
A piece of Rhode Island history
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Meanwhile, Martha also posted several snaps of the home’s exterior, showing the tiled patio with white lounge chairs as well as the pool area — which was decked out with inflatable toys and a slide. Although Swift never got the chance to meet the socialite, Harkness still made an impact on the singer-songwriter, who wrote “The Last Great American Dynasty” about her wild lifestyle. The home, which has eight fireplaces and 10 bathrooms, sits on 5.23 acres and features a sprawling back patio with a massive pool. Lester and Russell play games in their room, which houses the barn-inspired canvas-tented bunk beds and a Windsor chair that once belonged to Nicholas’s grandfather.
And it opens on to 700 feet of sandy shoreline — a perfect location for A-list parties.
Swift likens her own star-studded parties to the bevy of famous composers and dancers that once frequented the Holiday House in Harkness’ days. Swift’s song highlights some of the most outrageous antics the heiress was known for, which included filling up her pool with Dom Pérignon, dyeing one of her pets green, and having a relationship with Salvador Dali (himself known as one of the most eccentric artists in modern history). According to Rhode Island Monthly, the couple bought the coastal property soon after the wedding, and they became known for their (as Swift points out herself) “tasteful if a little loud” soirees.
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Taylor Swift bought an 11,000-square-foot estate in Rhode Island back in 2013 for a whopping $17.75 million — which she reportedly paid for in cash. Other snaps have also caught her exes, Tom Hiddleston and Calvin Harris, who have also been to her place. The perennially loved Hollywood couple, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively - Swift's close friends - were also welcomed to her Castle on the Hill. At the time, she bought the place for $17.75 million, with the full amount paid in cash (Page Six). 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.
Snowden family
Rebekah Harkness was always a figure shrouded in various perspectives of people surrounding her. Of course, Rebekah was more than a punter - she was a legend, a ‘mad’ woman who did as she pleased. As people discover the eccentric house, or rather the previous house owner, people’s interest renews itself all the more as the beacon house for sailors becomes a reverential part of pop culture.
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The 11,744-square-foot holiday house boasts 700 feet of shoreline and offers sweeping views of Little Narragansett Bay, per Business Insider. According to See Westerly, Watch Hill was used as a lookout during battles dating back before the French and Indian War. After their marriage, the happy couple picked out a home and called it a ‘Holiday House.’ The house was built for Pearl Pinkerton McClelland Snowden by her husband in the mid-1910s. Measuring up to an astounding 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2), the seafront house sat on 5 acres (2.0 ha) of Rhode Island. Standing right across a private beachfront, Taylor Swift's Holiday House became hers to call in 2013.
History
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. The coastal mansion, located at 16 Bluff Avenue in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, was built in 1930 and sits on the highest point in the coastal town.
Taylor Swift Gives Historical Tours of Her Rhode Island Home to Friends and Family
In her day, Harkness was as much of a media darling as Swift is now, and often the target of unfavorable headlines and press coverage. The name is said to come from the wives of mariners, who would watch for their spouses’ return, often in vain as the ocean took their lives, leaving the women widows. The Snowdens, beginning with George Grant Snowden's father, James McKean Snowden, who was born in 1831 and lived in Pittsburgh, had made their fortune in oil and gas exploration. George Grant Snowden and his brother, James Hastings Snowden, explored for oil first in Pennsylvania and then in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. However, the pricey pad is just one fraction of Swift’s over $80 million real estate portfolio. Jonas, for his part, posted a photo of he and brother Nick Jonas putting Swift’s bar to good use.
The figure of Rebekah Harkness, seen occasionally pacing the rocks adjacent to her home, became more fiction than the truth. She was nearly lost in the annals of time, slowly withering away, until ‘The Last American Dynasty’ revived her and the house. Harkness became a recluse in her later years, even dying a neighbour’s cat lime green after an altercation. "Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name and money," Taylor wrote in the lyrics, allegedly pertaining to Rebekah's second husband, William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. With the 2020 release of her eighth studio album, Folklore, fans got the opportunity to see a different side of Swift, as she moved away from writing music from her own perspective and, instead, chose to share other people's stories. "I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I've never met, people I've known, or those I wish I hadn't," she explained in a tweet announcing the arrival of her album.
Part of the home’s new addition, the main bathroom features an antique-style black claw-foot tub paired with black hexagonal tile flooring. Topped with vintage paintings and thrifted baskets, metal lockers —adorned with eucalyptus wreaths during the holidays—are an ideal spot to tuck away coats, boots, and mittens. The custom red barn-style Dutch door and antique Kazak rug brighten up the space, while the antique-looking brick flooring gives a nod to the reclaimed brick in the living room. The "Holiday House" that inspired the song was reportedly bought by the Grammy-winning singer in 2013 for $17.75 million in cash, per Page Six.
And the most intriguing one, as of late, is a secret romance that reportedly took place in Tay Tay’s beach retreat. The mansion was once owned by Rebekah Harkness, a high-profile socialite who famously married into the Standard Oil fortune. The master’s suite contains a sitting room with a wet bar as well as a widow’s walk terrace — which is a term used to describe a railed rooftop platform with an inner cupola or turret frequently found in 19th-century North American coastal houses. Back in 2013, Taylor Swift paid a whopping $17.75 million for the 7-bedroom mansion — along with 700 feet of shoreline on Watch Hill, in Rhode Island.
But imagine our surprise when we heard that one of the songs on the album is a reference to the Grammy Award-winner’s house in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Although the “Anti-Hero” singer took a break from hosting the star-studded party for a few years, she held a smaller gathering this past Fourth of July alongside BFFs Selena Gomez and the Haim sisters. Meanwhile, the living space boasts high ceilings and seems to be decorated in neutral tones, with white furniture, tan walls, oak hardwood floors and white crown molding.
Several other friends of the super star have also shared photos inside the home’s white kitchen. The eight-bedroom property, known as High Watch or Holiday House, was built on the highest point in Watch Hill and boasts over 700 feet of private beachfront. However, while at the opulent bash, her A-list friends (Gigi Hadid, Joe Jonas, Martha Hunt and others) have often shared sneak peeks of the property in their pictures.
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