Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ castle to host weddings
If it’s a love story and baby just said yes, the couple may be able to get married at the castle featured in the music video of Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” lead single.
Mike Freeman, the owner and mastermind behind Castle Gwynn in Arrington, Tennessee, is expanding the enchanting fortress to include a great hall and newlywed suite suitable for royalty where the couple can stay on the property . The hope is to finish the addition to the Tennessee site made famous in Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” music video by the end of the year and open its doors to weddings.
‘I close my eyes and the flashback starts’
During World War II, Freeman’s dad, Joe, picked up a set of postcards from a bombed gift shop on the Rhine River. At 5 years old, Freeman looked at one of the images of a castle and told his dad he would live in one. In 1970 as part of a high school architecture assignment, he sketched a medieval home into his notebook.
Freeman worked as a photographer at a studio and used his first paycheck to buy an antique chest made in 1475 in a linen fold design. He sold the piece of furniture for $3,000 to Dixie Hall, the wife of country singer Tom T. Hall. That was enough to make a down payment on land 40 minutes southeast of Nashville. Freeman has tried to track down the chest since the Halls died but hasn’t had any luck.
“I spent 10 years researching on how to build the outside of the castle,” he says.
Fifty years after his dad brought the postcards to America, Freeman took him back to all the places he went during the war to talk to European castle owners and learn from their mistakes. One of his favorite inspirations included Castell Coch, a red castle nestled in the South Wales’ Fforest Fawr.
“That’s been the fun part,” he says. “I’ve been really fortunate to have some really talented people share in the dream to make this all possible.”
Paycheck-by-paycheck, Freeman purchased bricks to construct two seven-story towers.
“We’re probably at a million bricks,” he says and smiles.
‘I met you on the outskirts of town’
Because he’s known as a castle expert in the Nashville area, a member of Swift’s team reached out to Freeman in 2008. The star was considering shooting the “Romeo and Juliet” themed music video in Europe, but as soon as the scout saw a portrait of a high school senior hanging in Castle Gwynn with the sun setting, he knew Swift had to shoot her music video there.
The production team came out the day before to set up shots perfectly timed to the sunset and painted the concrete banisters to a stone texture while Freeman was off the property.
“I came back in and they said, ‘If you don’t like it, we’ll take it away.’ I said, ‘No, it looks pretty good, just leave it,’” he recalls. “It was a nice souvenir from the video.”
Swift shot the nighttime garden and balcony scenes on the Castle Gwynn grounds. The team went elsewhere to capture the choreographed dance.
“They filmed it until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning,” Freeman remembers.
‘You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess’
Freeman lives in the estate with his wife, Jackie. Once a year, in May, they host a Renaissance festival at Castle Gwynn, which is Welch for “white castle.” The reason he painted his home white has historic roots that run centuries deep.
“If you were to take a time machine back to the Middle Ages, you’d find that most castles were white on the outside,” he says. “One of the reasons being, there’s no way to climb a white wall on the darkest night and not be seen by one of the guards.”
The fair is happening next month and castlegoers can check out the new addition under construction that will house events and weddings.
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.