The quirky “castle,” as it became known locally, had three stories and a massive staircase outside the house. Madame Sherri lived in a more modest house nearby and used the bigger property to entertain. After her husband’s death, she decided to build a unique structure in the woods of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, to hold parties for her theater friends. In New York, Madame Sherri made a name for herself designing elaborate costumes for Broadway productions, most notably the Ziegfeld Follies. Mystery surrounds the reason for this name change as well as other aspects of their life together. Madame Sherri, born Antoinette Bramare, married actor and dancer Andre Riela in 1911, and the couple moved to New York and changed their name to Sherri. The glamorous eccentric threw fabulous parties at her “castle” in the middle of the forest, and drove around the town in a custom-made cream Packard car, with a monkey perched on her shoulder. Scott Fitzgerald’s imagination, but New England has its very own, very real version of the larger-than-life character: its local queen of scandal, Madame Sherri.
Abandoned castle new hampshire free#
The land is owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and is free to access. The road to this forest trail is unpaved, but if it is any comfort, my VW Beetle named Lady made the journey with minimal peril. The ruins of Madame Sherri’s castle are just a short hike from a parking lot in a 513-acre public forest that bears her name. Other than the stone steps that loom as a monument to Madame Sherri’s eccentric life, the chimneys and foundation are all that remain today. The most prominent feature of the remaining structure is the staircase leading to empty sky – an apt and poetic tribute to its former owner.
The structure burned down in 1962, leaving nothing but stone and forgotten memories. She returned to New Hampshire in 1959, only to find her home vandalized, and she never returned. Her work long forgotten by New York society, she turned to old friends and moved to Vermont. A widow with a vanished fortune and an empty house, Madame Sherri entered a life of poverty. Once she no longer received checks from LeMaire, the parties stopped, too. Unfortunately, Madame Sherri’s legacy did not age as well. LeMaire’s career in Hollywood spanned 37 years and eventually included three Academy Awards. Her lifestyle was largely funded by Charles LeMaire, a former assistant and fellow costume designer.
Her party attire matched her behavior – a healthy mixture of excess and flamboyant pageantry. Grand as it was, she seems to have used the castle strictly for entertaining and lived in a farmhouse across the street. The three-story house was uniquely styled, “reminiscent of a Roman ruin and a French Chalet,” according to the Chesterfield Historical Society. She purchased some 600 acres of forestland near Chesterfield, New Hampshire and built the castle there in 1929.
Jessica ColeĪfter Reila’s death in 1924, his grieving widow abandoned New York for good. Stone walls included to protect surrounding trees. They became fixtures in New York society. The couple enjoyed great success – she as a costume designer, he as a vaudeville performer. She was no stranger to the stage when she made her way from Paris, France to New York City in 1911 with her husband, Andre Reila (born Anthony Mecaluso). Madame Antoinette Sherri, born Antoinette Bramare in 1878, was larger than life. What’s left of the lonely structure is now a mere whisper of its onetime glory. Madame Sherri’s “castle” lies lifeless and silent, but you can almost hear the laughter of socialites softly lilting through the trees that surround the site of the former party house. Resting in a dense New Hampshire forest are the stone ruins of a lavish dream.
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