History & local legend
Heilbron Mansion stood near Painter Road and West Rose Tree Road in Middletown Township, Delaware County. Before the old mansion burned in 1987, its reputation attracted curious visitors, including Jeremy Holmes’s family during an evening outing in the early 1980s.
Holmes recalled that his mother wanted to see the property after dinner, so his father pulled into the driveway. While the family sat in the car, his older brother became frightened by something looking at him from behind a tree. They left immediately and went home.
The brother’s alarm did not end with the drive. Back at their house, he said he could see the same thing in their own yard. Holmes recounted the incident in 2010, carefully describing what his brother said he saw.
Sources
- Jeremy Holmes, signed 2010 recollection; a former real estate agent also identifies the historic crossroads
- Ghosts of Delaware County, independently collected accounts from people who entered the mansion before the fire
- DELCO Today, the 1987 fire and other versions of the Heilbron story
- Middletown Township, named junction in the official traffic studyUnavailable ·
- OpenStreetMap, verified public crossroads
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, archived 1988 account of the Heilbron estate
- Delaware County History, 1875 Middletown Township atlas showing Mrs. H. B. Edwards’s property
