Maplecroft. The home of Lizzie Borden and her sister Emma, which they purchased for $13,000 in 1893, following Lizzie’s acquittal for the murder of her father and stepmother. Emma lived here until 1904. Lizzie lived here until the day she died in 1927.
The house has had seven owners. First there was the builder, Charles Allen. He built this structure on French Street for $7,000. Three years later he almost doubled his money when the Borden sisters moved in.
Then came the David family, Herman and Fannie, following the death of both sisters. They owned the house from 1933 to 1948. Afterwards, Frank and Mary Louise Sylvia lived there from 1948 to 1980. Then the house was purchased by Robert and Sharon Dube ($60,000) in 1981. They lived in the home until it was purchased by Kristee Bates in 2014 for $500,000. Kristee invested $400,000 more into renovations. She owned it for a short time. The current owner, Donald Woods (who also owns the Lizzie Borden B&B on Second Street), purchased Maplecroft in 2017 for $600,000.
Donald has invested a great deal as well, adding a sprinkler system in the house (and subsequent repairs to the interior from that construction), a handicapped ramp in the back yard from the driveway to the porch for accessibility, and now a rehab of the porch.
It has been redone, and the new additions have been painted.
Next are more porch renovations, including painting the floor and ceiling and perhaps the upper portion of the porch roof.
Watch the evolution below. The images are in chronological order, starting with an image from when the Sylvia’s owned the home.
