Wender·Vista
Madame Sherri Castle ruins Chesterfield
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileNew Hampshire
in the woods of southwestern New Hampshire

Madame Sherri Castle ruins Chesterfield

— — a staircase that no longer arrives anywhere.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A stone arch and a curving outdoor staircase in the woods west of Chesterfield. Antoinette Sherri built the place as a summer house in the early 1930s, threw costume parties for Broadway friends from the New York theatre world, and let the building decline through the fifties. Fire took the rest in 1962. The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests keeps the ruins now, with a short trail in.

from the studio
Madame Sherri Castle ruins Chesterfield
— bring it home

Madame Sherri Castle ruins Chesterfield, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Madame Sherri Castle ruins Chesterfield

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The ruins sit inside the 513-acre Madame Sherri Forest, off Gulf Road west of Chesterfield, in the southwestern corner of New Hampshire. The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has owned the property since 1962, when fire took the house. A short trail from the small gravel lot reaches the ruins in under ten minutes, with longer loops climbing past Indian Pond and around Daniels Mountain. The land sits a few miles from the Connecticut River and the Vermont line.

— the stone

What remains is a fieldstone foundation, a tall arched entry, and the famous outdoor staircase that once climbed to a second-floor porch. The masonry was built in 1931 by a local crew under Antoinette Sherri's direction, using stone gathered from the property itself. Each summer, ivy and bittersweet pull a little more at the joints, and the Forest Society stabilises the worst sections as it can. The staircase ends in air now, with no house above it.

— informed by Wikipedia: Madame Sherri
— the visit

The trailhead lot off Gulf Road holds about ten cars and fills on October weekends. The Forest Society asks visitors to stay off the masonry; the stone is unstable, and the staircase has lost its handrail. There is no fee. Dogs on leash, no fires, no drone photography. The quiet hours are weekday mornings through summer. Late October brings the heaviest foot traffic, drawn by the foliage above the ruin and the season's particular feeling for a roofless house.

— where
United States · Chesterfield, Cheshire County, New Hampshire
— within
Madame Sherri Forest
— position
42.8676° N · 72.5365° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
8 km E
Chesterfield
town
16 km NW
Brattleboro
town
6 km W
Mount Wantastiquet
peak
N
Madame Sherri Castle ruins Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Brattleboro
Mount Wantastiquet
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Madame Sherri Castle ruins Chesterfield — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Antoinette Bramare Sherri, a Parisian-born New York costume designer who worked in Broadway theatre through the 1910s and 1920s. She built the Chesterfield house in 1931 as a summer retreat.

October 18, 1962, after years of disuse. The fire took the timber framing and roof, but the stone foundation, arch, and curving exterior staircase survived and stand today.

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the state's oldest land-conservation organisation, founded in 1901. It acquired the property the same year the house burned.

Under half a mile on a level path from the Gulf Road parking area. The longer loop through the forest, past Indian Pond, runs about three miles round trip.

No. The Madame Sherri Forest is open to the public year-round at no charge. The Forest Society asks visitors to stay off the stonework and to leash dogs.

— about the piece in your home

It has been. The staircase rising into open air carries that particular feeling well. A Small reads on a bookshelf beside old volumes; a Medium frames cleanly in a study.

Dark Academia, Maximalist, and quieter Gothic rooms hold it best. The stone greys and forest greens sit comfortably with leather, brass, aged book bindings, and oxblood velvet.

Yes. The Dark Academia and Whimsigothic palettes have moved through interiors over the past few years, and a ruin-in-the-woods tile reads cleanly in both without leaning theatrical.

A Large reads above a console or in a tall stairwell. Above a sofa, a 4-tile Mural carries the width; a 9-tile Mural anchors a larger wall.

Yes. Order it in Dura Satin for a backsplash or shower wall, or Matte for a powder room. The colour lives in the surface and does not lift in steam.

A soft microfibre cloth and water. No abrasive sponges, no glass cleaner, no bleach. The thin glossy finish wipes clean and the colour underneath does not shift.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in-house by Reid Wender, the curator, and slowly infused into the ceramic under high heat and pressure. Single studio, no licensing.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.