the haunted estate of goshen road?

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Before Goshen Road becomes a Chester County Road it is in Newtown Township when you cross 252.  On the corner of 252 and Goshen Road is the estate once home to the now deceased John Du Pont who killed Olympic wrestler David Schultz in 1996 at his Newtown Square estate.

Foxcatcher Farm is the name of the property and it has been rotting for years.  You can see quite clearly the deterioration of the houses and barns when the leaves are down.  Today I decided to stop on the road and snap a couple of photos – I had my camera and a zoom lens.

The gatehouse is empty although someone has planted fresh mums in honor of the season.

It is sort of creepy.  What is going on with the estate as in the land?  I know there was an auction a while back and the estate as in all his assets was being challenged in court as recently as this past April.

I know in Pittsburgh they have begun filming a movie about John DuPont – also see “Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Sienna Miller to Grapple With Du Pont Wrestling Murder Drama”

I wonder who owns the estate now?  Is it still the Rouse Group? What are the plans for Foxcatcher renamed Ashford? Will there be many mini manses dotting a once pristine landscape and killing traffic there and everything else? Between that and the plans for the old Ellis School/Arco Chemical known as Ellis Preserve, wow…just wow….

Well no one ever said Newtown Township got it.  Sigh. It would be really cool to photograph the estate before whatever happens happens.

 

 

 

 

 

9 thoughts on “the haunted estate of goshen road?”

  1. I grew up down the road from this place and now follow your blog from afar. Foxcatcher is a bit of a pet interest of mine.

    I believe that Newtown approved the final land development proposal earlier this month – but cant find any proof or even a site plan from Rouse (aside from the photo you posted, nothing on Rouse’s website). I think that this is sad for a number of reasons, the history of that place (if you check the Newtown Township history group’s page you will see just how many structures are on the site are from the 1800s or even earlier), the fact that the property has been essentially protected and managed for over a hundred years – offering incredible environmental benefits, but also the imminent destruction of it. Rouse is planning to demolish all of the buildings on the site and the neglect of the structures is, in my opinion, likely no accident. While I don’t want to minimize the tragedy of the murder, it is a shame to see the last 400 acres of the original 800 acre Foxcatcher/Liseter/Biddle Farm property turn into houses. The development will be restricted to ages 55+ to appease those who think that only families with children bring impacts from development. A shame to erase all of this history, even with the negative aspects associated with it.

    I do agree with you and wish that Rouse would open the property to be photographed for history’s sake. But I doubt that will happen.

    Lastly, based off of an article that I tracked down (will try to post it) Rouse paid $28.5M for the 400+ acre site. Food for thought as Radnor thinks about what to do about Ardrossan and if they want to protect it and at what cost – I beleive Ardrossan is roughly 300 acres….

    • Mitch, thank you so much for the reply! Maybe I will e-mail the Rouse Company and see if I can photograph before they demolish, and I look forward to any other information you can dig up

  2. Go get em…

    Hy Mayerson The i magin AIR ium : @ The Meeting House : Law Offices, Gallery, Visual Hall & High Sundry Recording Studio 3540 Schuylkill Rd, (PA Rt 724) at Mennonite Church Rd Spring City PA 19475 610 948 4800

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    • truthfully I don’t know what they could have done and then I wonder how much they cared because ratables were staring them in the face. If you want an answer to that question I would say ask Newtown township

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