In the 1930s a French lady named Antoinette Sherri bought several hundred acres on the east side of Rattlesnake Mountain in Chesterfield New Hampshire and built a house there. The house, which some called a “castle,” was built of local stone by Italian stone masons and stood until 1962, when it was vandalized and burned. The photo above shows some of what little is left, and also shows how what little is left is slowly crumbling away. The arches are letting go.
There is a beaver pond on the property but I don’t think the beavers are active any longer.
The lodge looks unused but that was okay; I was here for the beauty, not the beavers or the stonework.
Oaks are turning some amazing colors this year.
Beeches are wearing their usual yellow but they’re still very beautiful.
Here’s another photo of the forest at Willard Pond that I took far too many of when I went there. It’s beautiful enough to see again, I think.
Though we have a long way to go to drought abatement we have had some rain and it’s nice to see the streams flowing again.
I saw a few fallen oak leaves and that means the bare trees of November must be just around the corner.
I love how lake sedge (Carex lacustris) seems to flow like the waves of the pond and lake shores it grows on. It is really the wind and its own weak stems that make it bend so, but I think it makes a pretty display. Lake sedge is native to Canada and the northern U.S. and can at times be found growing in water. Waterfowl and songbirds eat its seeds. Even when it isn’t blowing in the wind it seems to have movement.
I took the wrong road in Chesterfield and was glad I did. It was beautiful.
I finally got to the overlook that looks off toward the green hills of Vermont. It was also beautiful. It’s really too bad that people from other places couldn’t get here to see the foliage this year. In a normal year they come from all over the world to see this.
Here’s another shot from Willard Pond; what I call the far hill. Gosh it was beautiful.
And another shot of the forest at Willard Pond.
A backlit bit of forest in Chesterfield. What gorgeous colors we’ve seen this year, even in a drought. I’ve been told, over the course of my whole life I think, that adequate rainfall determined whether or not we’d see good leaf color. So much for that theory.
Even the bracken ferns have been colorful.
And the blueberry bushes. Never have I seen them as beautiful as they are this year.
The many colors of maple leaved viburnum could take an entire post to show. It’s one of our most colorful native shrubs and I love seeing it.
And then it looks like this; a pale almost non existent pink, just before the leaves fall.
While the maples have been a little disappointing the oaks are incredible.
The color range of oaks is always a surprise.

I caught a royal fern (Osmunda spectabilis) that was still wearing yellow. Once they start changing they quickly go from yellow to a kind of burnt orange to brown. Many people don’t realize that this is a fern and that’s why I show it so often. That and I like it.
Witch hazel leaves (Hamamelis virginiana) have gone brown but their yellow flowers still peek out from under them. In fact it’s common to find a bush full of blossoms and not a single leaf.
Witch alders (Fothergilla major) are beautiful in the fall and they show what the sun does to their leaf color. The yellow you see is where the sun hasn’t hit their leaves full on, but the red leaves have been in full sun. Does this mean that the sun causes them to lose their chlorophyll quicker? Witch alder is a native shrub related to witch hazel which grows to about 6-7 feet in this area. Though native to the southeast it does well here in the northeast, but it is almost always seen in gardens rather than in the wild. The fragrant flower heads are bottlebrush shaped and made up of many flowers that have no petals. What little color they have comes from the stamens, which have tiny yellow anthers at the ends of long white filaments.
I feel bad for saying the maples have been disappointing. I should have said that they had amazing color but their leaves fell quickly. I just read that drought and high heat cause trees to turn early and drop their leaves sooner, and that’s exactly what has happened. This small maple made it through and it was a knockout.
I’ll leave you with a moment of reflection. Beautiful yes, but many people far more knowledgeable about such things than I am have said that in reality, you are the beauty you see. Here’s one of them now:
Thanks for coming by.
Oh, Allen! Absolutely glorious colour!
Thank you Clare, it sure was!
Your reflection shots are winners.
Thank you Susan!
I enjoyed this virtual autumn walk, Allen. It is unfortunate that old house was vandalized and burned. I can see where it would be dangerous to stand near the stone arches.
Thank you Lavinia. Yes, the stairs are close to falling and there are signs warning people away.
Truly lovely.
Thank you Deborah, it has been grand!
Beautiful captures – it has been a gorgeous fall. Going fast, though.
Thank you Eliza yes, we’re just about to the end of it though the oaks are still hanging on in a few places.
I’ve been saying since mid-September that this was the best foliage I’ve seen in my lifetime. Every type of tree and shrub in New Hampshire was just brilliant. And it has lasted for weeks and weeks. Maybe Nature was being nice to us to compensate for the awful things we’re doing to ourselves! I don’t say it enough, but thanks again for all your posts.
Thank you, I think you were right! And what a surprise after such a drought.
Thank for another dose of beauty, just the medicine we need in these troubled times.
You’re welcome. I’m very grateful to be able to see it in person.
I love the ruined castle. The bracken is pure gold.
Thank you Susan. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen bracken fern as colorful as it is this year. Some of them were beautiful!
The pic of the “castle” ruins is gorgeous with the glowing woods behind it. I’m so enjoying all the beautiful colors of fall, both in your posts and in my own neighborhood. Thanks!
I’m glad to hear that you have fall color there Ginny. I wasn’t sure if you did. I’m glad I can show you a little more.
The “castle” stairway is a popular place for photographers at this time of year and you could see why!
Thank you so much for bringing magic and beauty into my day.
You’re welcome Robin, I’m glad I was able to!
Thank you. Makes my day!
You’re welcome Vicky, I’m glad to hear that!
Remarkable that you still have colour! I’d already forgotten what it looked like before seeing this post. Nothing but snow and bare branches here.
I’m sorry to hear that Karen! I’m in no hurry to see that here though they say we might see snow Friday morning. I’m hoping not.
I’m glad you enjoyed seeing some colors!
The late to turn maples look especially brilliant against the deeper hues of the oaks here in Maine. Like you, I was noticing the gradations of color in some of our maples. I was wondering if this occurred because the inner leaves are somewhat insulated from the colder temperatures.
Thank you. That’s certainly possible I’d guess. I thought it might be the sun because if you look closely at the witch alder’s leaves in the photo you can see leaves in the middle of the shrub that have been shaded by the outer leaves and have yellow “shadows” on them. We might both be right!
A few years back, my husband and I decided we wanted to go see Madame Sherri’s “castle” ruins. It was a grey and drizzly day, and our intent was just to make it a quick viewing and then move on to some indoor vacation activity – but somehow we took the wrong fork in the path from the parking lot and ended up hiking the forest trails for hours without ever seeing the ruins. We did, however, see more red efts than I’ve ever seen at one time, before or since. There were dozens and dozens, so many that we had to be very careful where we stepped so as not to injure any. When we finally found our way back to the parking lot, we almost just left, but at the last minute decided to wander back down the path not taken – and voila! There were the ruins, just a few short minutes from the lot, and all we could do was laugh at ourselves for the extremely circuitous route we took to get there. Although for a few moments on that day I thought we were truly lost, and it wasn’t so funny, the story has become one of those classics that we repeat to each other whenever we find ourselves in a situation that didn’t go exactly as planned. Thanks for reminding me of it again! ☺
You’re welcome. If you went uphill you might have made it to Indian Pond, which is a nice spot to sit for a while.
Interesting about the red efts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one there.
I do know what you mean about that feeling you get when you think you might be lost. Not pleasant, but I’m glad you didn’t really get lost!
And all so fleeting! The foliage really is a lesson in attentiveness before we drop into five or six months of winter.
Yes, and it certainly commands my attention!