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B&B at it's finest
Dog3 wrote:
> I swiped this from another ng I read. I think this would make a > fantastic B&B. Thanks Mike, if you're reading. > > Michael > ******* OOOH yeah! Jill > Begin article: > > In case you missed it, > > asking price of $699,920. Real estate taxes are $7,649 > > House of the week: 'Lizzie Borden' B&B on market in Fall River > > 01:00 AM EST on Saturday, January 17, 2004 > > BY AVIS GUNTHER-ROSENBERG > Journal Staff Writer > > FALL RIVER, MASS. -- On the morning of Aug. 4, 1892, Andrew J. > Borden, 70, and > his second wife, Abby Durfee Borden, 65, were brutally murdered -- > struck repeatedly in the head, neck and shoulders with a hatchet. You > can own the murder site, complete with ghostly apparitions and > mysterious cat meowings, unexplained door closings and startling > visions, loud rappings and the echoes of > children's laughter. > > Or, if you don't believe in ghosts, you can buy a beautifully kept > 3,146-square-foot Greek-revival residence complete with period > furnishings and > historical treasures to be run as a profitable bed and breakfast or > converted > back to a stately private home. > > Of course, you could go in thinking the latter, and circumstances > could change > your mind . . . > > The house, at 92 Second St., was built in 1845 by a carpenter whom > Andrew Borden > worked for. Borden -- who held several jobs including banker and > coffin maker -- > bought the house for himself, Abby, and his two daughters from his > first marriage -- Lizzie and Emma. > > One of the major family conflicts involved the house, which Abby and > Andrew wanted to stay in and Lizzie wanted to leave for a more > elegant house overlooking the city in the Highlands. In fact, after > Lizzie was tried and acquitted of the murder charges, she moved to a > Highlands house she called Maplecroft. A caretaker remained here for > 25 years. Ultimately, she and Emma > sold it to him for "a dollar plus considerations." > > The house was in several different hands, until Josephine and John > McGinn bought > it in 1948. Their granddaughter, Martha McGinn, lived here during her > teen years, in Emma's former bedroom. > > After their deaths, McGinn -- along with business partner Simone J. > Evans converted the house to a bed-and-breakfast. Using historical > documents and police photos from the murder scene, McGinn and Evans > restored and furnished the > house as closely as possible to the way it was in 1892, complete with > reproductions of the floral wall coverings and carpeting, and the > distinctive > Victorian furnishings. Over time, they also acquired several items > that belonged > to Lizzie, including one of her dresses, her sewing machine, and > several of her > books. They even have a costume Elizabeth Montgomery wore in the > made-for-television movie, The Legend of Lizzie Borden. > > "One of the books we got a kick out of was named, With Edged Tools," > McGinn says. > > McGinn and Evans opened the bed and breakfast on Aug. 4, 1996, the > 104th anniversary of the murders. > > The house has the original windows, woodwork, ornate radiators and > doorknobs, > and all two original interior doors. The central air conditioning is a > modern > addition, as are electricity and bathrooms. (The Bordens had kerosene > lamps and > an indoor privy in the basement with "slop pails" in the bedrooms.) > > And while there are things from the house that Lizzie owned at > Maplecroft - - > like her sewing machine -- most of the furnishings of this house were > lost when > the waterfront storage building they were housed in was destroyed in a > hurricane. > > The dining room table, sideboard and hutch came from Maplecroft, and > are of the > era Lizzie lived there, but McGinn says she can't document that they > were owned > by Borden. A silver tea set on the sideboard was donated by a Borden > descendant, > but was not Borden's. > > In the entry foyer -- the entrance that Andrew Borden had some > difficulty getting in on the day of the murder -- a mannequin is > attired in Lizzie's own > dress. A piano has been placed in the front parlor where Lizzie would > have taken > lessons. > > Lizzie's bedroom has both a bed and a fainting couch, as documented in > stories > about the house at the time the Bordens lived there. > > "She had to have one in case she got the vapors," McGinn says. > > But the most amazing restorations are at the two murder scenes, where > police > photographers provided stunning documentation of what the house looked > like. > McGinn and Evans were able to find duplicates of the sitting room sofa > where > Andrew was killed while he lay resting from the midday heat, and the > bed and > bureau of the guest room where Abby was hacked to death while > changing the covers on the bed pillows. Copies of the photos of the > bodies hang in frames on > the walls above the spots they were found. > > Other bizarre features include the heavy wooden door -- reportedly a > coffin cover made by Borden into a hatch -- that closes off the > upstairs rooms, and a > trap door in the floor of one of the third-floor bedrooms -- the one > that belonged to the Bordens' maid Bridget, who was supposedly in the > yard washing > windows at the time of the murders. McGinn says that one of the owners > after the > Bordens was a bookie, and that the trap door led down to a dry well > in the basement. > > "The story is that when Sharky got word the cops were coming to raid > them, he > threw the betting slips down through the trap door to a fire he kept > burning in > the basement." > > With all the eerie and ghoulish happenings in the past, is the Borden > house really haunted? > > "We hear footsteps all the time," McGinn says. "I have all my life. > Or a door > will open or shut or lock by itself. But they aren't nasty. They are > not malicious." > > Once, during a snowstorm, a caretaker once heard pounding on the front > door, but > there was no one there when he went to answer it, she says. Then he > heard pounding on the back door, but there was no one there either. > He thought at first someone was playing a trick on him, but there > wasn't a single footprint in > the freshly fallen snow. > > Some guests have reported hearing a woman crying. Others swear they > hear children playing marbles. For the longest time, McGinn couldn't > understand that. > Then she found out about another murder next door. > > "We found out there were two kids next door, and their mother drowned > them in > the well," McGinn says. > > Several people have reported hearing a cat meowing, but only the house > manager > reports actually seeing the ghostly figure of a cat. > > "People say Lizzie killed one of Abby's cats, but I have serious > doubts about > it," McGinn says. "When she died, she left a lot of money to the > Animal Rescue > League, and she bought her pets headstones when then died." > > Another frightening tale involves two maids who went up to make the > bed in the > guest room that Abby was murdered in. > > "One went downstairs, and the other went back to put towels in," > McGinn says. > "All of a sudden, there was an imprint on the bed like someone was > lying there." > When the other maid returned to the room at her insistence, she saw > it, too. > "The maid wouldn't even go back in the house to get her paycheck after > that." > > Has McGinn ever actually seen a ghost? Once, as a teenager, she says: > "I was > coming downstairs to the basement to do laundry, and I saw what > looked like a > silhouette of a woman in Victorian clothes floating 3 or 4 inches off > the floor." > > What did McGinn do? "I ran upstairs and did my laundry later. The > laundry still > needed to be done." > > Then there is the strange matter of the murder date -- Aug. 4, 1892. > McGinn's > grandparents, who had no idea they would buy the crime scene more > than two decades later, were married on Aug. 4, 1925. They signed the > purchase-and- sales > agreement on Aug. 4, 1947 or '48. McGinn was born on Aug. 4, 1954. > > McGinn and Evans have enjoyed owning this home of mysteries, but have > decided to > place the building on the market in order to spend more time with > their families, McGinn says. All of the furnishings and some of > Lizzie's clothes and > personal items are included in the asking price of $699,920. Real > estate taxes > are $7,649. > > The sale price also includes the businesses. Bed and breakfast room > rates are > $150 to $200 a night and up, depending on occupancy. Emma and Lizzie's > bedrooms > and Andrew and Abby's bedrooms form two two-bedroom guest suites. > There are four > additional guest rooms -- one on the second floor and three on the > third, including maid Bridget's room. > > In addition, the house connects to 5,945 square feet of commercial > space that > houses Leary Press. The business and the house sit on an > 8,162-square-foot lot > across from the bus station, in the heart of downtown Fall River. > > Paula Drake of Riverside Realty, Somerset, Mass. has the listing. For > more information on the house, you can visit the bed-and-breakfast > Web site at Lizzie-Borden.com or the Fall River Historical Society > Web Site at LizzieBorden.org. > > http://www.projo.com/realestate/cont...en.1d686e.html > > Fall River PD transcripts of questioning of Lizzie > > http://www.frpd.org/lizzie/part1.htm |
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