Everything You Need To Know About Doris Dukes Mansion

Hillsborough, NJ -- The historic Doris Dukes Mansion in Hillsborough will soon be torn down and out of sight but it will be forever memorialized in Weird NJ.

The magazine, which covers New Jersey’s local legends and secrets, featured the history of the building and the saga revolving around its destruction in its May through October 2016 issue.

“It’s always been an interesting story,” Weird NJ Publisher/Editor Mark Moran told Patch. “We covered Doris Duke in the past, but the fact they are tearing down the house made it a timely topic.”

A six-page spread in the publication highlights Doris Duke’s life and the mansion in words and photos.

Photos range from black and white shots of Duke as a child and interior shots of the vacant mansion inside and out.

The article also talks about the battle to stop the demolition of the mansion by DORIS (Demolition of Residence Is Senseless) -- a group fighting the demolition.

“They certainly were fighting a good fight,” Moran said of DORIS. “They seemed genuinely concerned. Personally I don’t see why the demolition was so necessary…. I don’t like to see a place with such history torn down unless absolutely necessary and it didn’t seem like it was.”

Although Moran has his opinion on the situation, the article doesn’t editorialize. It just educates people about the history of the place and the demolition.

“The story of the house coming down is the catalyst of all the weirdness of what has been going on there over the past half a century,” Moran said. “The story of Duke could’ve been written into a soap opera. People wouldn’t believe it. These jet set millionaires living in seclusion in rural New Jersey and all the freaky stuff with the butler and adopting full grown women and a menagerie of animals.”

Pick up a copy of Weird NJ at locations across the Garden State. Click here for a full list of locations.

(Photos by VacantNewJersey.com)