Crowninshield Estates

Eastern end of High Street

The poet Andrew Pitman Derby and his wife Elspeth resided on this swath of property, in a grand mansion, in the late 1920s. After Elspeth’s and Derby’s deaths under mysterious circumstances, the house was set ablaze by arsonists mere weeks later. Police suspected the discharged servants, Sethwich folk, but the three vanished into the woodwork of their decrepit town and never resurfaced for questioning.
The Crowninshield estate was a vast acreage whose ownership was transferred to a distant relative of Andrew Derby living in the United Kingdom. This relative never visited the New Jerusalem estate, and eventually in recent years the entire property was sold to a real estate developer. The developer has built forty luxury “Crowninshield Estates”, oversized (and overpriced) single family homes on the acreage, none of them exhibiting the grandeur of their namesake. They cluster in several cul-de-sacs on small individual lots, looking like big men in little suits.
Those purchasing one of these luxury havens might be shocked to learn of the history of their “new” neighborhood in the yellowing backfiles of the New Jerusalem Advertiser, Journal, or Boston Globe.
A barren clearing in the woods bordering the development is accessible via an ancient footpath. Children in the development often play in the clearing, which is just out of earshot of the houses. An ancient granite fire-pit lies at the center of the clearing, its stone border marked with curious, weather-worn runes. The few adults who have come to the clearing to retrieve their children have no interest in the pit nor its markings.

Founding Date

1950

Type

Estate

Parent Location

New Jerusalem Outskirts