Silver Stone Castle in Swansea sneak peek inside
Silver Stone Castle in Swansea is almost ready to open to the public, bringing medieval fun and games to town.
- Silver Stone Castle medieval-themed family fun center in Swansea opened to select guests before its grand opening.
- The entertainment complex has go-karts, a resort-style pool, arcade games, a 300-seat restaurant and more.
- Owner Joe Estrela has been planning to build the castle since 2019.
- He has further plans to expand with a hotel.
SWANSEA — Hear ye, hear ye: Silver Stone Castle is opening its gates.
The 87,000-square-foot, medieval-themed entertainment complex on at 358 GAR Highway is welcoming the general public on Thursday, Nov. 20 — but for friends, family, workers who helped build the facility and other honored guests, owner Joe Estrela gave them a sneak peek on Nov. 15.
“It’s kind of an appreciation thing,” Estrela said. “I grabbed a bunch of people I knew, invited them, and have a good time!”
Estrela held court in the vast entertainment center’s courtyard, amid the clamor of awestruck kids finding activities behind every door. He was greeted by hundreds of guests congratulating him. He bought the land in 2019 with a dream of building this castle upon it — a dream derailed from time to time, including by COVID, but finally realized.
“It feels surreal,” he said. “I didn’t think this day would ever happen, to be honest with you. But I feel good and excited.”
Estrela isn’t done dreaming. He said this is just the first phase of bigger plans to come.
Swansea’s Silver Stone Castle a multi-year labor of love
Only an hour into its opening Silver Stone was already bustling with activity. Kids rushed to try the two-story, neon-lit go-kart track, swung on equipment at the indoor playground, played billiards, climbed a rock wall, raced around a fountain at the courtyard’s center. Some adults flocked to the bar, where staff was busy pouring drinks — though plenty of other adults were racing go-karts too.
“This is a very family-oriented business,” Estrela said.
He’s designed the activities inside to cater to a range of ages. The youngest have a room just for them with soft equipment to tumble on. Older kids have an arcade, the racing track, and more. Grownups who want a private party can have a bar all to themselves. And the 300-seat restaurant and colossal resort-style pool are for everyone.
All of it is impressively detailed with images of valiant knights, noble queens, fierce dragons — a touch of Merrie Olde England in southern New England.
In a 2021 story, Estrela said a decade earlier during a visit to a castle in Ireland, he had a vision of building one of his own on the SouthCoast. On Saturday, he said he’s poured “tens of millions” of dollars into realizing that vision — and much of his own labor.
“Everything, I either designed it or I designed it and built it,” he said. “A lot of the different features in the building, for instance that wine barrel holder, I made that entire thing. The catapult and the battering ram out front — I made that, completely from scratch, all by myself.”
For other work, he said family was very involved, especially his mother, who helped with décor — “the extra pretty stuff,” he joked.
“I can make you a beautiful bench and stain it a beautiful color, but I can’t do a damn thing with flowers,” he said. “So that was her department.”
Helio Pacheco, enjoying the evening with his wife and daughters, said he hooked up with the company when the castle was “just steel beams.” Pacheco painted many of the murals — and even there, Estrela knew what he wanted. Pacheco gave him multiple sketch ideas, laid them on the floor, and he said Estrela knew exactly which ones would go on which walls.
“And that’s it. I was out of commission for about a year,” Pacheco said.
The years of work already seem to be paying off. Silver Stone Castle wasn’t intended to be just an arcade and a restaurant, but a Great Wolf Lodge-style family resort, arguably the biggest public attraction Swansea has seen since the mall.
Estrela has built several function rooms for parties, and he’s already got reservations booked for next year.
“This lady in New Hampshire, two years ago she contacted us asking us when we were going to open,” Estrela said. “She wants to have a medieval wedding. She said she would actually wait until we were done. Sure as hell, she waited and she was the first one to book.”
Silver Stone Castle in Swansea full of medieval attractions
Silver Stone Castle in Swansea is ready to open after more than five years of planning and construction. See what’s in store.
There’s more in store for Silver Stone Castle
As grand as Silver Stone is, Estrela calls it only “Phase 1.”
“Phase 2 will be a hotel. It’ll be connected to the building,” Estrela said — a family resort attraction needs to have space for visiting family to stay.
Phase 3, he said, would be a water park connected to both, though he said he isn’t sure he’s got enough acreage, with those plans more nebulous. But the hotel he envisions would be right behind the castle. And a hotel, he said, means more venue space.
“We’ve got birthday parties already — a lot of birthday parties, a couple of weddings,” he said.
When asked how large a hotel he imagines building, Estrela smiled.
“As big as I possibly can make it,” he said.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.heraldnews.com ’
