As we are looking forward to opening our doors and welcoming you all back into the Sheridan House, I wanted to take a closer look at some of our artifacts. Those who have visited our Meeting Room will certainly remember the centerpiece of the room: a large gilded mirror. Remembering Winchester and Ashuelot as primarily mill, farming, and lumber communities, this giant mirror may seem a little out of place. Since its installation at the Northfield Chateau in the early 1900s, ornate items like this mirror have signaled the area’s continuing shift from rural to industrial.
It’s difficult to pin down exact construction dates, but it appears that the Sheridan House has existed as a structure since 1870. When it was purchased by the Sheridan family in the 1890’s, many upgrades and improvements were made, including the porch, rear rooms, and carriage house. The house was even electrified around 1910! (You should see the old wiring in the basement…)
The Sheridan House was not an unusual site in your average mill town, and it was conveniently situated near the mill Hugh Sheridan owned. As you drive down Ashuelot Main Street, you can see a number of the original houses used by workers and their families, as well as more factory owners’ homes. And while these Victorian-esque houses are beautiful, they are nothing compared to the Northfield Chateau.
Francis Robert Schell was a New York businessman who inherited a small fortune from his father in 1900. At the time, Schell was interested in building a summer home in Northfield so he could follow and support evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Northfield was a quiet farming community which did not attract much attention at the time. Moody was born there, so returned after his church was destroyed in the Chicago Fire to found the Northfield School (for girls) and the Mount Hermon School (for boys). Schell chose to locate his summer home near the Northfield School, which is now Thomas Aquinas College, on a spot where a golf course currently stands.
To say that the Northfield Chateau was a grand home would be an understatement. Situated on a 125-acre estate, “Schell Castle” had 99 rooms and, as his obituary tactfully wrote, “its towers are especially noticeable to railroad travelers through this section and the valley.” Locals were not very impressed with the large estate, wondering why the fields and man-made waterways weren’t being put to use. Schell had hoped to become a more integral part of the community, and gifted Northfield a 515-foot long steel cantilever truss bridge over the Connecticut River. This bridge connected the two sides of Northfield village…and shortened Schell’s trip to the railroad station on the other side of the river.
After Schell’s death, his wife Mary refused to visit the home again and the Northfield Chateau became property of the Northfield School, which integrated with the boys’ school to become the Northfield Mount Hermon School. For many years, the Chateau hosted the Northfield Mount Hermon’s prom before it became associated with the Northfield Hotel. Eventually, the Northfield Chateau became too expensive to keep and it was demolished in 1963. Many artifacts were rescued from the Chateau, including our mirror and its siblings, which hang at Belcourt of Newport, another Gilded Age mansion.
Learn more from these sources:
- Northfield Chateau at House Histree (includes a video from the 1950s!): https://househistree.com/houses/northfield-chateau
- Schell Bridge restoration project: http://www.schellbridge.org/
- Francis Robert Schell at Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127797896/francis-robert-schell
- Belcourt of Newport, another historic home reopening post-pandemic: https://www.belcourt.com/
Originally published June 2024
