Madame Sherri's Castle Ruins
"After the Fall"
At Madame Sherri's Castle Ruins
Chesterfield, New Hampshire
October 8, 2021
This was taken months after the partial collapse of what remains of the stairs but sadly well before the Fall colors of 2021 came in.
History:
The Madame Sherri Forest is named after a former owner, Madame Antoinette Sherri, a Paris-born theatrical costume designer who worked in New York City during the early 1900s. She and her husband built a French-inspired chateau summer house in Chesterfield that featured extensive stonework including a roman arch stairway, ornate interior, and designed landscape gardens. There they lavishly entertained their New York City friends at parties during the Roaring 1920s. Madame Sherri became famous – or infamous – for her wild parties. Her chauffeur-driven Packard, her fur coat, and her fast crowd of friends made the townsfolk talk whenever she appeared. However, in time Madame Sherri’s fortunes declined, and her castle fell to ruin and vandalism. After a long separation, she returned to the house in 1959 to find the interior badly vandalized. She left, heartbroken, never to return again. The house burned down completely in 1963. Today, ancient sugar maples surround a stone foundation and stairway, a large empty fireplace tapers to a freestanding chimney. This is all that remains of the former summer home of Madame Sherri who died in Brattleboro on October 21, 1965.
Madame Sherri's Castle Ruins
"After the Fall"
At Madame Sherri's Castle Ruins
Chesterfield, New Hampshire
October 8, 2021
This was taken months after the partial collapse of what remains of the stairs but sadly well before the Fall colors of 2021 came in.
History:
The Madame Sherri Forest is named after a former owner, Madame Antoinette Sherri, a Paris-born theatrical costume designer who worked in New York City during the early 1900s. She and her husband built a French-inspired chateau summer house in Chesterfield that featured extensive stonework including a roman arch stairway, ornate interior, and designed landscape gardens. There they lavishly entertained their New York City friends at parties during the Roaring 1920s. Madame Sherri became famous – or infamous – for her wild parties. Her chauffeur-driven Packard, her fur coat, and her fast crowd of friends made the townsfolk talk whenever she appeared. However, in time Madame Sherri’s fortunes declined, and her castle fell to ruin and vandalism. After a long separation, she returned to the house in 1959 to find the interior badly vandalized. She left, heartbroken, never to return again. The house burned down completely in 1963. Today, ancient sugar maples surround a stone foundation and stairway, a large empty fireplace tapers to a freestanding chimney. This is all that remains of the former summer home of Madame Sherri who died in Brattleboro on October 21, 1965.