High Watch

Holiday House was built in 1929-1930 for Mrs. George Grant Snowden[3] (Pearl Pinkerton McClelland Snowden) of Philadelphia, whose husband had died in 1918. It stands as a landmark for sailors on the great bluff from which Watch Hill takes its name. Mrs. Snowden had acquired the historic and dramatic site from the estate of Eugene Atwood in 1929. Holiday House included a large servants quarters on what is now the northeast lawn. The servants quarters were demolished during extensive renovations carried out in the 1970s by Gurdon B. Wattles.

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. The Snowden family is of Welsh descent, with ties to Welsh, English, and Scottish royals. Mrs. Snowden was a descendant of Pilgrim Edward Fuller, the House of Stuart, and Robert Burns.

The 1938 New England hurricane and associated storm surge caused significant damage to the hillside facing the ocean. In order to stabilize the badly eroded hillside, George Grant Snowden Jr. had thousands of granite boulders put in place, which remain there to this day.

The property was sold in 1948 to Mr. William Hale Harkness, heir to the Standard Oil Company fortune.

Stephen Vanderburgh Harkness was a progenitor of the extended Harkness family. He and his step-brother Henry Flagler invested heavily with John D. Rockefeller in Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, the corporate forerunner to Standard Oil. Harkness became the second-largest shareholder, which made him extremely wealthy.[4] Harkness was a silent partner, though he served on Standard Oil's board of directors until his 1888 death.[5][6]

Vanderburgh Harkness's half brother Daniel M. Harkness was a trustee of Standard Oil and a very rich man. He left his money to his son William Lamon Harkness.[7] William fathered two children with Edith Hale:[8] Louise Hale Harkness (1898–1978) who married David Sinton Ingalls, and William Hale Harkness.[9] In 1947, William Hale married Rebekah Semple West,[10] who was previously married to Dickson Pierce.[11] William Hale Harkness died in 1954, and Rebekah remarried twice: first to Dr. Benjamin Harrison Kean, then to Niels H. Lauersen.

Rebekah bought Holiday House from the Snowdens in 1948. She apparently was quite unpopular with her neighbors, doing unusual things such as cleaning her pool with champagne,[12] and gambling with a wide ranged of guests, such as Spanish artist Salvador Dali.[2] She used her late husband's fortune to support charitable causes, such as supporting the Joffrey Ballet.[12] She withdrew funding when the Ballet refused to rename itself in her honor, and she created her own dance company called Harkness Ballet,[13] hiring most of the Joffrey Ballet's dancers.[14] The Harkness Ballet closed in 1975.[15] Rebekah also funded medical research.[16][17] Locals today still refer to the house as the Harkness House.[18]

The Gurdon B. Wattles family bought Holiday House in 1974,[3] renaming it as High Watch. The Wattles family remained at High Watch until 1996.

Taylor Swift, the mansion's current owner

In 2013, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift purchased High Watch,[19] for US$17.75 million.[2] From 2013 to 2017, she received widespread press coverage for hosting her annual American Independence Day parties on the estate, featuring numerous celebrity guests and lavish decorations often depicted on Instagram.[20][21] Cosmopolitan compared the parties to "legendary parties in the history of United States", such as the Met Gala and the Vanity Fair Oscars party, and called it one of the most exclusive invitations in the US.[22] Vanity Fair opined, only "few annual celebrity-hosted gatherings are surrounded by as much outsized mythos as Taylor Swift's Fourth of July party".[23] The parties attracted controversy from local Watch Hill residents, who complained about the influx of paparazzi into Watch Hill and the unsolicited attention that Swift brings to the community.[24][25] The parties were not held from 2018 to 2022; although Swift did not disclose why, media outlets named her step-away from spotlight and the presidency of Donald Trump as reasons. She resumed the party in 2023.[26][27][28]

In 2014, she faced criticism from the residents over a proposal to rebuild a seawall on her property which would reportedly impede public access to the beach. Swift responded that she sought to repair damage from coastal erosion, and the area of seawall was on her private beach, which had been used by the public for years before her purchase.[29] Following a lawsuit in April 2017, the Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld a lower-court decision that landowners in Westerly can put up fences to keep strangers off their beach.[30] The attorney general's office and environmental groups argued that the land had been dedicated to the public more than a century ago, but the court disagreed, ruling that the beach is privately-owned.[31]

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo proposed a luxury tax on "pricey" second homes within the state worth over $1 million in 2015, which was referred to as the "Taylor Swift tax" in mainstream media. The tax was criticized and was eventually withdrawn.[32] The tax was widely viewed as an obstacle for future tourism in the state, especially since people with second homes spent money without straining infrastructural resources such as school systems. Raimondo defended the proposal as potentially adding $12 million to the state’s economy, but then withdrew it.[2]

Swift held the "Secret Sessions" at High Watch in 2014 and 2017, hosting listening parties for select Swifties prior to the release of her albums 1989 and Reputation.[33] On April 2, 2019, a stolen car crashed into the estate's gates following a police chase that started in a neighboring town in Connecticut.[34]

High Watch has multiple "No trespassing" signs.[35] Swift has had several stalking, trespassing, and home invasion incidents at the house since 2013.[36] More than five separate cases have been reported by news outlets,[37][38] with three in 2019 alone.[39][40][41] A female trespasser was arrested in 2023.[35]

In 2020, Swift released her studio album Folklore, featuring a song about the house and life of Rebekah Harkness,[42] entitled "The Last Great American Dynasty".[43] The song details parallels between Harkness' and Swift's unfavorable press reception at various points due to their personal lives and residence.[44] The song was praised by critics for its lyricism and storytelling,[45] and peaked at number 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.[46] In 2022, L'Officiel named High Watch as one of the most expensive celebrity homes in the Americas.[47]