‘Lizzie Lincoln’ house demolished
A subject of local legend, the house on Lincoln Road has been vacant close to 30 years
Tales of the so-called Lizzie Lincoln house in Exeter Township have spooked generations of children.
Once a fine example of mid19th century federal-style architecture, the house at 1131 Lincoln Road has sat vacant for close to 30 years.
With its boarded windows, rusted metal roof and crumbling cornice, the brick hulk has the classic look of a haunted house.
It wasn’t always that way, Exeter resident Lynn M. Weis said.
As a girl, Weis, 57, lived nearby. She remembers often looking admiringly at the large home with its white-painted trim, matching rail fence and manicured lawn.
“It was beautiful then,” she said. “I always just really loved it.”
Despite the home’s well-cared for appearance, she said, there was an air of mystery about the place. Local children dared each other to ring the doorbell on Halloween and told tales of a murder and a haunting and the shadowy figure of a woman named Lizzie Lincoln seen peering through windows. “That just attracted me more,” Weis said.
Building Razed
The Lizzie Lincoln house was demolished on Monday Feb. 27.
J.P. Mascaro & Sons, a solid waste removal service that operates in Exeter, recently made settlement on the property, said Bill Fox, in-house general counsel for the company.
It and other parcels in the vicinity of Mascaro’s Pioneer Crossing Landfill had been used since the late 1990s as sources of cover soil under a decades-old agreement with the owners.
That use will continue under Mascaro’s direct ownership, he said.
Fox said there are no plans at this time to expand disposal of any waste materials into the newly acquired areas.
The land along Lincoln Road is being cleared of scrub and brush, he said, and will be landscaped and fenced after demolition of the house.
“We are working to improve the aesthetics of our properties in the area,” Fox said, pointing to a recently landscaped area along Ada Drive in the township as an exam