The Barnaby Castle’s Halloween Celebration: Victorian, glamourous and flirting with the unknown

On Saturday, October 26, Barnaby Castle will host Broadway’s — perhaps even Providence’s — finest Halloween party. The event architect, Kaitlyn Frolich, who knows the castle inside and out, planned everything to perfection. On the first level, there will be an open bar, music stylings by the looping expert Resin Ed, and a proper amount of Halloween decor. (Last year a giant black house spider, which was about the size of 10 people, dangled from the living room’s Victorian ceiling). On the higher floors, the food gets finer and so does the wine — Capitol Grill will be catering on the upper levels. On the fourth story of the turret, VIP guests can receive free tarot readings.

On the upper levels, the exact decor of each room is being kept secret; Frolich has crafted a different ambiance in each chamber. “It’s going to be a very immersive situation,” Frolich said, then quickly sealed her lips against revealing pre-party details. Besides honoring the dead, the party is meant to fundraise $30,000 through ticket sales for the restoration of the castle’s four-story tower.  

The residence is important to repair because of its history and impressive architecture. The Barnaby Castle is the former home of Mr. and Mrs. Jerothmul and Josephine Barnaby, a wealthy couple who lived on Broadway and loved attention. They built an eye-catching home from a hodgepodge of Victorian architectural styles. The roof is Queen Anne, the tower is Gothic and the interior woodwork, which includes cherub heads, in my opinion, springs from Barnaby’s bizarre and eccentric taste. With its eclectic architecture and ornate interior, Mr. Barnaby thought his wooden home was grand enough to be a castle named after himself. Unfortunately, the Barnabys’ plans to be the envy of high society were short-lived. In 1889, at the age of 59, he died of vertigo (or at least, that is what his obituary claims). Later, while vacationing in Colorado, the widowed and wealthy Josephine Barnaby received a package of whiskey in the mail, promptly sipped it and died. To this day, only the castle knows who killed Mrs. Barnaby. 

Halloween at the Castle takes place at Barnaby Castle, 299 Broadway, PVD on Oct 26 at 7pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to fb.com/barnabycastlepvd