New England's Madame Sherri
An Exotic Woman Who Took Chesterfield, NH by Storm in the 1920s
Madame Sherri swept into New England without notice and kept the natives enthralled by her mystery for many years to come.
Mme.Sherri
had been an art collector, a vaudeville dancer, a theatrical costume designer and a world traveller before she breezed into Chesterfield, New Hampshire, in the 1920's. Not long after arriving she bought 600 acres on the side of Rattlesnake mountain with the view to building a vacation retreat where she and her New York friends could escape for the summer. Construction began on the 'castle' in 1931, and she worked alongside the builders, changing her mind from time to time as to what she wanted. Inspired by French chateaux, the place was surrounded by Roman arches and topped by a chalet roof. The main stairs were cut into a rock ledge and led to a huge red door.
The 'castle' was filled with ancient Chinese porcelain; alabaster and gold Buddhas; books; hundreds of figurines from all parts of the world; 14th century italian pottery; oriental rugs and Madame Sherri's cobra-backed throne, which was called "The Queen's Throne," and from this lofty seat she received her guests. Madame was very fond of flowers and the castle was surrounded by yellow violets, hepaticas, and pink ladies slippers. There was also a man in Sherri's life, but just who he was is open to conjecture.
Charles LeMaire
Who was this man of mystery? Was it her much younger husband Andre Sherri, who was reported to have died in a drunken stupor in New York City some time past? Was it a New York doctor whom she entertained many times at the castle? Or was it Charles LeMaire, a young costume designer who became her protege and was known to the locals as ' her foster son?' LeMaire later became an Oscar-winning executive director of wardrobe at Twentieth Century Fox.
Although she had this magnificent castle Madame Sherri elected to live across the road in a rundown old farmhouse, which was described by neighbors as ' like the inside of a stove.' The old house was stacked with boxes and suitcases and other mess and full of soot. In one of her trunks there was purported to be a tuxedo of Rudolf Valentino's.
When the end of World War 2 came, she was in her 60's and not as vital as she once had been. New York visitors were becoming fewer and she relied on locals to drive her around. Charles LeMaire had been sending her cheques and they had now stopped. Sherri walked with a cane and seemed to be excessively troubled by the cold. She wore strange outfits...clothes mended and pinned, sweaters stretching to her knees, shoes with holes.She scrounged for food, eating fungi and scraps.
Madame Sherrihad once been religious, and had become a Jehovah's Witness. When she was being driven to New York she would talk religion until they arrived at Springfield, Massachusetts, and from then on she would tell wonderful tales about her adventures.When she was about 75 she applied for a liquor license, intending to convert the castle into a nightclub. She was desperate to earn some money and when the nightclub idea fell through she sold the mineral rights to her land,but nothing was ever taken from the ground.
Brattleboro, Vermont
Sherri moved to a seedy boarding house in Brattleboro, Vermont, after the castle had been ransacked and everything was either stolen or destroyed.The castle burned down in 1962. She made a deal to sell the remaining ruins and the land to a Chesterfield woman, but the day the purchase was finalized, October 21,1965, Madame Sherri died in a Brattledboro nursing home.
Sources:
Vermont Summer Supplement, The Bennington Banner and the Brattleboro Reformer, August 21,1980, "They Must Never Know About Madame Sherri," by Mary B.Young.
Personal conversations with Horce Tatz, Claremont, New Hampshire, July 2002.
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