A 25-room 1926 Mediterranean Revival mansion on the St. Johns River where industrialist Alfred I. du Pont died in 1935 — and a 1985 Forbes article surfaced a family member's allegation that he was poisoned by his wife and brother-in-law
1830 Epping Forest Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32217
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$$
Private membership club; public access not available
Access
Wheelchair OK
Manicured estate grounds and restored mansion
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1926 · National Register of Historic Places (1973) · Mediterranean Revival Architecture · du Pont Family History · AIA Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places (2012)
Alfred Irénée du Pont was born in 1864 into the du Pont family of Delaware, which controlled DuPont Chemical Company. Internal conflicts within the family enterprise — including a dispute over company control with his cousins Pierre and Coleman — led to his effective removal from the business in 1917. When his cousin Pierre became Delaware's tax commissioner in 1925 and further complicated Alfred's position, du Pont chose to relocate entirely, settling in Jacksonville, Florida, where he had fond childhood connections through family stories.
In 1926, du Pont purchased 58 acres on Christopher Point, the widest section of the St. Johns River, and commissioned local architect Harold Saxelbye to design an estate. The resulting 25-room mansion blended Mediterranean Revival, Gothic, Spanish Renaissance, and Baroque influences into a 15,000-square-foot riverfront compound. Du Pont designed the formal English gardens himself and installed a lion's head fountain. He named the property Epping Forest after a Virginia plantation associated with Jessie Ball du Pont's family ancestry — Jessie was a descendant of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother.
The estate hosted prominent guests during the late 1920s and early 1930s, including members of the Vanderbilt and Carnegie families. Du Pont also conducted extensive business operations from Jacksonville, and by 1935 his estate was one of the largest private fortunes in Florida.
Alfred I. du Pont died on April 28, 1935, at age 70 at Epping Forest. The official cause of death was a heart attack, as reported by the Jacksonville Journal the following day. His estate was valued at over $56 million; after $30 million in estate taxes, the remainder went into a testamentary trust with Jessie Ball du Pont as principal trustee and her brother Edward Ball managing the business interests.
Sources
The dark cloud over Epping Forest is not paranormal in the conventional sense but legal and familial: a contested death.
In 1985 — fifty years after Alfred I. du Pont died at Epping Forest — a Forbes Magazine article surfaced allegations from Alfred Dent, a family member with documented antipathy toward both Jessie Ball du Pont and her brother Edward Ball. Dent alleged that in January 1935, just months before his death, Alfred had drafted a new will that would have reduced Jessie's inheritance by half and curtailed Ball's power over the estate's business operations. According to Dent's account, Jessie poisoned her husband at Epping Forest to prevent the new will from being executed.
Du Pont's biographer, working from documentary records, characterized the allegation as more suitable for the National Enquirer than Forbes. Alfred Dent and his associate were on record as despising Ball and holding Jessie in low regard; their motivations to damage the reputations of both were clear. No physical evidence supporting the poisoning allegation has been identified. The official cause of death — documented in the Jacksonville Journal on April 29, 1935 — was a heart attack.
Nonetheless, the allegation has become part of the local historical narrative around the property. Jacksonville Magazine's 2021 long-form feature on the estate addressed the controversy directly, and local history accounts by Tim Gilmore and others have placed the story in the context of the du Pont family's complicated internal politics and Edward Ball's aggressive management of the trust.
The estate itself became a private yacht and country club in 1984 following Gate Petroleum Company's purchase. The mansion has been restored to its 1926 appearance. It is not open to the public.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The estate is a private members-only yacht and country club; the mansion and grounds are not open to the public. The exterior can be viewed from the riverfront approach. The property is on the National Register of Historic Places (1973).
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