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WESTERLY, R.I. — <\/span>When a large tent appeared next door to Taylor Swift\u2019s Watch Hill estate this week, it didn\u2019t take long for speculation about the superstar’s impending nuptials<\/a> to ripple through the affluent New England seaside village \u2014 and the internet. <\/p>\n Soon, fans were swapping theories online, photographers were staking out vantage points and residents found themselves fielding questions about a wedding that never was. Or at least, a wedding that seems yet to happen.<\/p>\n The rumors, so far, have proved unfounded. But they offered a glimpse into life in Watch Hill, the Rhode Island beach community in the town of Westerly, close to the Connecticut border, where Swift has owned a home for more than a decade and where curiosity about the singer has become woven into everyday life.<\/p>\n From the nearby lighthouse, visitors craned for a better view of Swift\u2019s mansion, a sprawling white home perched atop a rocky bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Security cameras dotted the property, and a guard called out to visitors who strayed too close.<\/p>\n Wedding planner Nicole Simeral, dressed in black, stood outside the small white chapel across from the massive yellow Ocean House hotel \u2014 Swift’s neighbor on the beach \u2014 waving along cars and buses that slowed and directing traffic to keep moving.<\/p>\n She watched visitors speculate about a wedding she said she knew wasn\u2019t Swift’s. She’s working a different wedding every weekend in June in that spot. Still, the questions kept coming.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Taylor Swift getting married here? Many, many, many have asked,\u201d Simeral said.<\/p>\n She said there had been \u201ca lot of chitter chatter\u201d as people tried to connect sightings of people who know Swift in local shops to impending nuptials. But she doubted Watch Hill would be practical for a wedding of that scale because of its limited luxury lodging.<\/p>\n The Watch Hill rumors also dovetailed with separate online speculation that Swift and her fiance, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce<\/a>, were planning a celebration at Madison Square Garden<\/a>, though no details about the pair\u2019s wedding have been released, despite multiple requests for comment to Swift\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n The tent itself, Simeral said, was hardly unusual. \u201cNext weekend, there\u2019ll be another tent just like this.\u201d<\/p>\n For two summers, Westerly Police Department community service officer Nick Quaratella has stood at the entrance to a public path leading to the beach beside Swift\u2019s estate, answering questions from beachgoers and keeping traffic moving. <\/p>\n \u201cThey come to the beach, but then they also ask if she\u2019s here or not,\u201d Quaratella said. <\/p>\n He said he can’t help but joke around with some fans. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll say, \u2018Oh, did you hear that she moved?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ll say, \u2018No.\u2019 And I say, \u2018Yeah, Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson moved in.\u2019 And they\u2019ll go, \u2018Oh, really?\u2019 and then they\u2019ll walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s pretty funny,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n Over the years, he\u2019s seen plenty of unusual reactions. His coworker once spotted a fan on their knees, bowing toward the entrance gate near the property. Visitors have shouted \u201cI love you, Taylor!\u201d from the roadside. One woman convinced her granddaughter he was Swift\u2019s security guard and posed for a photo with him. <\/p>\n Quaratella has fielded a few questions about the supposed wedding, but not as many as he expected.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this point, it\u2019s part of my job,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes me smile. It makes me laugh. I have no problem with it. It makes the day go by.\u201d<\/p>\n Down near a strip of beach boutiques, lifelong resident Lauren Nigrelli said the frenzy surrounding the star has eased since Swift first moved into the neighborhood in 2013. Back then, Nigrelli recalled, fans would drive around in circles by her shop playing Swift\u2019s songs.<\/p>\n \u201cThings have definitely calmed down since then,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Today, Swift\u2019s presence remains a fixture among local businesses in what she described as a \u201cquaint New England coastal community.\u201d Nigrelli, a Realtor who owns the boutiques Tide and Tide Kids, said she began selling apparel emblazoned with \u201cHoliday House,\u201d the nickname associated with Swift\u2019s mansion, after children began coming into the store asking for it. On Saturday, she was also selling a Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding sticker book.<\/p>\n \u201cI think every shop has something related to her,\u201d Nigrelli said.<\/p>\n On the beach below the mansion, Audrey and John Curtis, a married couple from Connecticut who have been vacationing in Westerly for years, settled into beach chairs and debated the wedding rumors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were just looking up at her house,\u201d Audrey Curtis said, pointing toward the mansion. \u201cShe\u2019s not getting married here now, though.\u201d<\/p>\n Curtis said she had heard various theories, including speculation that a wedding might be held at Ocean House. But as she thought through the logistics, she became skeptical.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I was thinking about, \u2018How would everybody get here?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIn New York, you\u2019ve got JFK, you\u2019ve got LaGuardia, and she\u2019s got two penthouses in New York that she combined, so I figured they could obviously have more people there.\u201d<\/p>\n Her husband wasn\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n \u201cThey could lie and say it\u2019s happening there, but it\u2019s happening here,\u201d John Curtis said. \u201cWhen important people do things, they don\u2019t want people to know.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n