Diksha Sundriyal
Lizzie Borden takes the spotlight in the fourth season of Netflix’s ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.’ The eight-episode season traces her journey from a simple girl of a well-to-do family to an infamous axe murderer. The show walks a fine line between fact and fiction and stokes the viewer’s curiosity by prompting them to question the real story behind the murders. As Lizzie is put on trial, the house itself becomes a major piece of the puzzle, thoroughly investigated to get to the truth. However, her family home is not the only house she inhabits. Following her acquittal, she moves to a more lavish home, which she names Maplecroft. Both houses still stand in Fall River and remain objects of interest for inquiring minds. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Borden House Really is a Bed and Breakfast Today
Andrew and Abby Borden were killed at their house located at 230 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. It was built in the 1840s and bought and remodeled by Andrew in 1872. He’d chosen it for its proximity to his workplace as well as the easier accessibility it provided to other things around town. Eventually, he died in the same house, and now it is a popular site that hosts tours and offers B&B accommodations to interested visitors. Over the years, the house has gone through some restorations, but it is said to have remained almost exactly as it was when Lizzie Borden lived there. While some parts and pieces have been duplicated to keep the same decor, the doors and the house’s hardware are still the original. It is currently owned and operated by US Ghost Adventures.
As a B&B, the house has two suites (named after the Borden family members) and four other rooms (named after John Morse, Bridget Sullivan, the DA, and the defense attorney in Lizzie’s case). Additionally, the house serves as a museum, open to visitors from 10 am every day, who can view artifacts from the murders and other era-related memorabilia displayed throughout the house. Guests are also offered guided and unguided normal tours and ghost hunts of the house and the cemetery where the Bordens are laid to rest. The owners also organize other events, including historical re-enactments and tin-type photography with period clothing, among other things. They have also opened the house as a filming location for movies and TV shows, as well as for weddings for people with a taste for the macabre.
Lizzie Borden’s Maplecroft is a Private Residence Today
After Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murder of her father and stepmother, she decided to use her massive inheritance to move to a different house. She refused to move out of Fall River because, reportedly, she wanted to see the reaction of the people who had shunned her when the truth came out and exonerated her. She didn’t go far, moving to a Victorian house about a mile away from the Borden house three months after the jury declared her innocent. Located at 306 French St, Fall River, Massachusetts, Maplecroft was built in 1887 as a three-story house with seven bedrooms, six fireplaces, and three-and-a-half bathrooms, among other features, on a 4,000-square-foot lot. Even back when Lizzie bought it, it had all the modern furnishings one would dream of in a house: electricity, indoor plumbing, and running hot and cold water.
Lizzie spent the rest of her life in this house. For a time, her sister, Emma, lived with her, but Lizzie’s habit of throwing parties and soirées, especially with her theater friends, got a little too much for her. She moved out in 1905. Since Lizzie’s death, the house has passed through several hands. In 2018, it was bought by the same people who also owned the Borden house at the time. They also wanted to convert Maplecroft into a B&B, but the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans to rest. They decided to sell the house in 2021, and it passed on to Brooke and Michael Doherty. They remain the house’s owners to this day. Since Maplecroft is currently a private residence, it is not open to the public.
Read More: Were Nance O’Neil and Lizzie Borden Friends? Did Nance O’Neil Coach Lizzie for Her Trial?
