The evocative ruins of Madame Sherri's 'castle' in West Chesterfield, New Hampshire are about 10 minutes from downtown Brattleboro, but the myths and legends surrounding Madame Sherri have captivated visitors the world over for almost 100 years. A costume designer and vaudeville performer, Madame threw outrageous parties that drew the glitterati of New York and Hollywood to this remote and unlikely place. Our story introduces you to the eccentric Sherri and her exploits while shedding light on the more sobering true facts of her life and legacy.
This episode of the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast was produced and hosted by Lissa Weinmann. The Madame Sherri audio was written by Robert Weir, narrated by Molly Melloan, edited by Sally Seymour and mastered by Guilford Sound. Fnal podcast production and editing was by Alec Pombriant. Theme music for the Brattleboro Words Trail is by Ty Gibbons. Thanks to Elissa Pine, Welcome Hill Studios and the Chesterfield Historical Society for their help.
Information on Ann Stokes women writers' retreat, Welcome Hill Studios, can be found at: http://welcomehillstudios.org/about
Welcome to the Brattleboro Words Trail.
(Host Intro Lissa Weinmann): One of the most interesting sites on the Brattleboro Words Trail is the ruin of an old mansion, or castle as folks took to calling it, in New Hampshire’s Pisgah Forest just across the Connecticut River from Brattleboro. The castle was built by one of the more beguiling characters in or around Brattleboro. She called herself Madame Sherri. She was a costume designer and vaudeville performer from France whose decadent castle parties with New York and Hollywood glitterati remain the most scandalous goings-on this rather uptight New England area has ever seen. She’s perfect for the Brattleboro Words Trail because of the thousands of versions of ther tale that have been told over almost hundred years, and for the castle ruins which are nothing short of wondrous.
To get to the ruins of Madame Sherri’s castle from Brattleboro will take about 10 minutes. You take Exit 3 off Route 91 toward New Hampshire to cross the ‘Justice Harlan Fiske Stone Bridge’ (another words trail story). You hang a left just on the other side on to Gulf Road, a narrow passage through high stone cliffs and waterfalls. It twists and turns along a lively brook until you reach a small parking lot for ‘Madame Sherri Forest’. An information exhibit points you to a short trail that leads to the ruins where a stark and haunting stone staircase curves up to nothing but sky.
One of the few things we think we know for sure about the slippery Sherri is that her real name was Antoinette Bramare. Other facts about her twist and turn as much as the road leading to her place. We have news accounts of her elaborate ruses and over-the-top behavior. We know her protege Charles LeMaire, a costume designer who would go on to win multiple academy awards, helped finance her escapades until eventually distancing himself from her. Locals seem to relish the pat moral of a story where a wild lady ends up poor and alone.
Others reveled in her exuberant excesses. One admirer actually bought and preserved the castle ruins for the public. That was Ann Stokes, a writer and lesbian firebrand whose unconventional summer gatherings in the late 60s and 70s sought to evoke the spirit of Sherri.
Ann’s bequest upon her death in 2016 also created Welcome Hill Studios, a nearby writing retreat ‘by women and for women.’ Creative women can apply to stay in several female-built cabins in this lush and inviting forest. Welcome Hill says its work is a tribute to Ann Stokes' generous spirit and her constant striving for a better world. An archive of Ann’s art and activism, including a collection of lesbian newsletters and journals from the 1970s on, are housed at UMass Amherst.
It’s a great story all around. We hope you will enjoy dipping into the legend of Sherri narrated by Brattleboro writer Molly Melloan. The story is best enjoyed walking the Madame Sherri Forest trails or the nearby Ann Stokes Loop, but it’s definitely a fun listen wherever you are.
(intro music and new narration by Molly Melloan). Roald Dahl once wrote "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog." He wasn't writing about Madame Antoinette Sherri, though she lived by that creed and was certainly one of the most colorful characters ever to live in Brattleboro.
Sherri reinvented her own persona. She was born in Paris as Antoinette Brumare, allegedly in 1878, though she was probably older. We know a little of her childhood but somehow, she acquired seamstress skills and a flair for design.
Your first invention was to become Antonia de Lillias, a dancehall performer. She was neither beautiful nor talented, but she had plenty of chutzpah. In 1909, she married Andre Rella many years her junior. They told newspapers that Andre was an Italian diplomat's son, whose parents disapproved of his marriage and his decision to become an actor. He was actually a petty criminal named Anthony Macaluso who was in Europe dodging an extortion charge. No matter.
Two years later, they sailed to New York and staged an elaborate ruse of being tearfully accepted by Andres parents, who were actually paid actors. At the time, 41% of all New Yorkers were immigrants, so the two fit-in well, until Andre briefly got into more trouble.
Mostly he danced and Antonia designed his costumes. In 1916, she opened the millenary shop of Madame Sherri on 42nd Street in New York City, at which point Antonia cease to exist and Madame Sherri was born. Sherri designed costumes for numerous Broadway shows, and took in struggling vaudeville pianist Charles Lamaire and made him into a designer. He went on to win four costume design Oscars and eight other nominations.
In 1924, Andre died, probably from syphilis. Sherri lost interest in the shop and began to summer in West Chesterfield, New Hampshire where Jack Henderson held wild parties that made mockery of prohibition laws and local norms. In 1929, she left New York and purchased a farmhouse and land near Henderson's. The money came from Lemaire, listed in numerous accounts as her adopted son, another Sherri exaggeration.
In 1931, she debuted another outlandish invention, Castle Sherri. It had unusual features, the most impressive being the outside staircase hewn from rock that today is all that survives. It was actually a two and a half story pitched roof house that required imagination to call it a castle. It was what happened inside that cemented the legend of both Sherri and the house
Suffice it to say that in 1931, greater Brattleboro had few residents who had ever encountered anyone like Sherri, she threw elaborate soirees attended by celebrities making pilgrimage to the area and greeted them from a carved Cobra backed chair, dubbed the Queen's throne.
She adorned herself in sequined gowns, gravity defying hats, and loads of glittering jewelry, most of its stage paste. Locals heard rumors of the furnishings, a polar bear rug, golden Buddhas, Italian pottery, and more. Given the ongoing depression, some whispered that she refinanced her spending through a prostitution ring. Others said the money came from mobsters. Sherri went whole hog. She purchased the 1927 Packard and claimed it was built for the Prince of Wales. Not so, but it was imaginable for those who saw her drive into Brattleboro with a monkey perched on her shoulder. She always wore a fur coat, and was said to be near or totally naked underneath. Stories circulated of scandalous behavior. Some were probably untrue, but one local remarked that she had the modesty of a rooster
Castle Sherri was an illusion. She actually lived in the farmhouse, which lacked electricity, and running water or a telephone. It became a squalid hoarders den and once her star faded, the center of her hand to mouth existence. By the outbreak of World War Two, she was too old to play the ingenue, LaMaire lived far away and her harebrained money making schemes ended badly. Nor was she eligible for Social Security, as she had no proof of being a wage earner after 1924.
The remaining years of her life were sad ones. Her Packard, sat idle, her disposition soured, and reluctant neighbors provided food, firewood and rides. In 1957, she grandiosely announced she was moving back to New York. Another lie. She was actually in Queechee. When she visited Castle Sherri in 1959, found it had been vandalized and moved to a Brattleboro boarding house. She couldn't pay her rent, became a ward of the town and was committed to a nursing home in 1962.
Castle Sherri burned the next year. Her Packard was sold and her farmhouse was condemned. She died on October 21, 1965, the very day Ann Stokes bought Sherri's land at a sheriff's sale. Today it bears the names of both Stokes and Madame Sherri. In 1972, Charles Lamaire admitted he had long supported Sherri.
Antoinette Bramare never did anything by halves. Madam Sherri was an invention so outrageous that she got away with it for more than a quarter of a century. She was a product of her time, but her story invites us to stand by the ruins of her so-called castle to contemplate eccentrics and mythmakers of our own.
(Back to Host) This episode of the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast was produced and hosted by me, Lissa Weinmann. The Madame Sherrie audio was written by Robert Weir, narrated by Molly Melloan, edited by Sally Seymour and mastered by Guilford Sound. Fnal podcast production and editing was by Alec Pombriant. Theme music for the Brattleboro Words Trail is by Ty Gibbons. Thanks to Elissa Pine, Welcome Hill Studios and the Chesterfield Historical Society for their help. Thanks for listening! We look forward to meeting up next time on the Brattleboro Words Trail.