Lizzie Lincoln House - Birdsboro, PA

We saw a post from @berksnostalgia that the Lizzie Lincoln House may be nearing its end. This home has been on our list so we decided to take a quick trip to see it before it is demolished.

The Lizzie Lincoln House is said to be haunted by a woman who was murdered there. Another story is that Lizzie fell down a flight of steps or was pushed down the stairs by her husband. Some believe the woman in question was most likely a maid or housekeeper who, presumably, died of natural causes. We researched the history of this house and could not find a murder that happened here or a woman named Lizzie that lived here, but we did find that the home had years and years of history.

The house was built for Isaac and Mary Myerling Huyett. After Mary passed away on October 5, 1876 the house and eight acres were purchased by John Huyett for $2000.00.

Next the Seitzinger family purchased the house.

Mary Agnes Souder Newbold inherited the property from Franklin Seitzinger, in 1864. At the time she was married to Alexander Elmslie Newbold

After Alexander Newbold's death, Mary married Alexander Boardman. Aleck was the man who conceived the idea of constructing the Atlantic City boardwalk to keep sand out of railroad cars and hotels.. They divided their time between living in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. While Mary and Aleck did work hard to make their own money they also were not very nice people. They tended to sue whomever they could including their neighbors. Mary also contested her millionaire cousin, William W. Seitzinger’s will when she was cut out of it. It went to court and she lost.

After Alexander’s death in 1901, Mary and her son Horace Boardman lived in the house. In 1902 Horace married and moved to New Jersey. Mary Agnes died in Cape May on October 16,1906 from complications arising from paralysis.

Horace was three married. His first wife Geraldine died in California in 1919 under mysterious circumstances. Shortly before her death Geraldine filed a lawsuit against Horace for desertion and adultery. Horace turned tables and said Geraldine had “acted indecorously with a young man” while living in California.

After Geraldine’s death he married Georgiana Briant, with whom Geraldine accused Horace of having an affair with. After Georgiana’s death he married Mildred Brown Walzer in 1953.

Horace spent very little time at the “Lizzie Lincoln House”. The house was in his possession until his death in 1972.

In 1977, Robert A. Baker and Scott. S. Zabower purchased the house. In 2018, Zabower left a comment on a blog post that while living there he never experienced anything out of the ordinary.

In 1989, the Lizzie Lincoln house was owned by AVM Nursery, one of several local business entities owned by now-deceased businessman Donald L. Peifer and his partner, Harold C. Hart. His troubles began well before owning the home and spent a great deal of his time in the courtrooms. In 1970, he began operating two landfills without a license. In 1976, Exeter Township Supervisors investigated Peifer after several local residents living near the landfill became sick. During his investigation, the supervisor discovered that trucks carrying liquid waste and toxic chemicals, from as far away as West Chester, were using the landfill as a dump site. These liquids seeped into the creek behind the Lizzie Lincoln house and into the Schuylkill River.

On April 26, 1978, a team of DER officials entered Peifer's property armed with a search warrant authorizing him to obtain water and soil samples. Peifer threatened the marshal and prevented the DER officials from leaving. The State Police were contacted and Peifer was arrested. After a six-day trial, a jury convicted Peifer of knowingly and willfully obstructing, resisting and opposing an officer of the United States.

In 1985 the landfill was finally shut down-- at least on paper. Two years later, the Allentown Morning Call reported that Peifer was still conducting business illegally from a trailer on the property. The EPA obtained warrants in order to determine if there was underground pollution and, once again, Peifer attempted to prevent the gathering of samples at his landfill. On Feb. 8, 1986, the DER finally came down hard on Peifer, fining his company $323,500 for repeatedly violating state environmental law.

Three years later Peifer purchased the four acres adjoining the landfill, upon which the Lizzie Lincoln house stands, and the abandoned property was turned into a Halloween attraction. Peifer passed away twenty-two days after his other business, Buddies Nursery, was closed down for illegally burying composted sewage sludge that polluted Molasses Creek.

Some believe that as far as the house's colorful past, one thing seems certain: stories of paranormal activity didn't seem to circulate until after Peifer's landfill had already become a public health nuisance. Some believe, if you visited the Lizzie Lincoln house and happened to experience feelings of dizziness and nausea, the real reason was probably not a poor young woman who met her demise at the bottom of a staircase, but most likely toxic waste.

Today, the landfill that sits behind the Lizzie Lincoln house is owned and operated by the J.P. Mascaro company, and its name has been changed to the Pioneer Crossing Landfill. We have heard through social media that there are plans for the home to be demolished, but were not able to find a definite date.

Located at: Lincoln Road, Birdsboro, PA 19508

This photo was found of the home from a Google search. We were unable to determine when the photo was taken.