Madame Sherri: The Bohemian Showgirl Who Built a Castle in New Hampshire's Woods
Tucked deep in the forested hills of Chesterfield, New Hampshire—along a winding dirt road off Route 9 near the Vermont border—stand the crumbling stone ruins of a once-opulent mansion known locally as Madame Sherri's Castle. Built in the late 1920s and early 1930s by the flamboyant Parisian-born showgirl, costume designer, and socialite Madame Antoinette Sherri (born Marie Antoinette Lucier in 1880), the castle was a lavish monument to extravagance, eccentricity, and the Roaring Twenties' spirit of excess. With its grand stone arches, towering chimneys, imported marble fireplaces, and sweeping terraces overlooking the West River Valley, the estate became a symbol of Madame Sherri's larger-than-life persona. From her days as a Ziegfeld Follies dancer and Broadway costume designer to her scandalous parties with celebrities, lovers, and bootleggers, Madame Sherri lived like royalty in the wilderness—until a devastating 1931 fire, financial ruin, and personal tragedy reduced her dream to ruins. Today, the castle's skeletal remains—overgrown with vines, moss, and trees—draw hikers, photographers, urban explorers, and true-crime enthusiasts to one of New England's most atmospheric abandoned sites. Echoing other regional legends of eccentric figures and lost grandeur—from Vermont's disguised highwayman doctors to the spectral omens of Connecticut's Black Dog—the story of Madame Sherri and her castle blends Gilded Age glamour, Prohibition-era excess, and haunting decay. But who was this extraordinary woman who turned a remote New Hampshire forest into her personal palace, and what happened to the dream she built? Drawing from historical records, newspaper archives, local histories, and preservation efforts, let's trace her rise, the castle's brief glory, its fiery destruction, the eerie ruins that remain, and the enduring legacy of Madame Sherri, New Hampshire's most unforgettable bohemian.
Antoinette Lucier was born in 1880 in Paris, France, to a modest family. By her early twenties, she had reinvented herself as Madame Sherri, a charismatic dancer and costume designer who performed in Paris cabarets and caught the eye of American impresarios. In 1904, she arrived in New York City, quickly securing work as a costume designer for the Ziegfeld Follies and other Broadway productions. Her flamboyant, extravagant designs—feathers, sequins, and daring cuts—became highly sought after, earning her a reputation as one of the era's top theatrical costumiers. By the 1910s and 1920s, Madame Sherri was a fixture in New York's high society, rubbing elbows with stars, gangsters, and millionaires. She married a wealthy French-American businessman, Charles "Sherri" Henderson, who funded her lavish lifestyle (though the couple later divorced).
In the late 1920s, flush with earnings from Broadway and private clients, Madame Sherri sought a country retreat. She purchased 1,000 acres of forested land in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, in 1927, drawn to its seclusion and natural beauty. Over the next several years, she poured her fortune into building a grand stone mansion she called Madame Sherri's Castle. The estate featured:
A massive stone main house with soaring arches, multiple fireplaces, and imported marble.
A grand terrace overlooking the West River Valley.
Guest cottages, a swimming pool, and landscaped gardens.
A private theater and costume workshop.
The castle was completed around 1930–1931 and became the site of legendary parties attended by Broadway stars, jazz musicians, bootleggers, and wealthy socialites. Guests arrived by private plane or chauffeured car; champagne flowed freely despite Prohibition, and Madame Sherri—often dressed in outrageous feathered gowns—presided over the revelry like a queen.
Tragedy struck on August 20, 1931, when a massive fire—cause unknown (arson, accident, or electrical fault)—destroyed much of the main house. Madame Sherri escaped unharmed but lost priceless costumes, furnishings, and irreplaceable memorabilia. The fire marked the beginning of her decline. Already strained by the Great Depression, legal battles over her ex-husband's estate, and lavish spending, she never fully rebuilt. By the late 1930s, she was living in reduced circumstances in New York, occasionally returning to the ruins.
Madame Sherri's final years were marked by poverty and eccentricity. She lived in a small apartment in New York City, surviving on dwindling savings and occasional costume work. She died on October 26, 1961, at age 81, in near obscurity. The castle ruins passed through various hands, eventually becoming part of the Madame Sherri Forest, a protected 465-acre nature preserve managed by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests since 1990.
Today, the ruins of Madame Sherri's Castle are a haunting, picturesque site: crumbling stone arches, charred chimneys, overgrown terraces, and scattered marble fragments. The property is open to the public via a short, well-marked trail from Route 9. Hikers and photographers are drawn to its romantic decay—moss-covered stones, vines climbing arches, and sweeping valley views. The site is also popular with paranormal enthusiasts, who report feelings of unease, ghostly footsteps, or the faint sound of music and laughter echoing through the ruins—though no verified supernatural evidence exists.
The castle's legacy endures in New England folklore and culture. It appears in books like Joseph A. Citro's Weird New England, local histories, and documentaries. The Madame Sherri Forest preserves the site as a natural and historical landmark, with interpretive signs explaining her life and the estate's history. The ruins symbolize the fleeting nature of wealth and ambition, a cautionary tale of excess in the wilderness.
In the broader tapestry of New England legends—from the calculated greed of Salem's 1830 White murder to the vanishing mystery of Judge Crater in New York, or the spectral Black Dog omens haunting Connecticut—the story of Madame Sherri and her castle stands as a poignant reminder of how quickly grandeur can crumble. It is a tale of a woman who lived larger than life, built a dream in the forest, and left behind a haunting, beautiful ruin.
So, who was Madame Sherri? A visionary bohemian, a victim of circumstance, or a cautionary figure of excess? The ruins speak for themselves. Hike the trail in Chesterfield; stand beneath the arches at sunset. The stones may be silent... but the echoes of champagne and laughter still linger.
Mike D. is a Connecticut-based writer who prefers to remain hidden—lest the ghosts come knocking.