Hammond Castle Museum

The Hammond Castle Museum is the former home and laboratory of inventor and art collector John Hays Hammond Jr. in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He was mentored by or collaborated with other inventors such as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Nikola Tesla. Hammond was the "father of remote control" and filed over 500 other patents worldwide. His inventions ranged from top secret remote controlled torpedoes and weapons for the U. S. Navy, radio and recording innovations for RCA, musical instrument adaptions for organs and pianos, as well as household items. Hammond also collected art and antiquities which he housed in his personally designed medieval "castle" that created historical settings for his various collections of Medieval, Renaissance and Roman artifacts and architectural pieces. His primary focus for his museum, as directed in his will was to "maintain the collection... to preserve the artistic values of this property which reflects the great influence of the church, especially upon the Medieval Arts." These online artifact and archive collections reflect his collectiing and work. More of the collection will be uploaded as we continue to process a comprehensive inventory of the collection and archive.