Summary
If you’re a garden lover, history buff, architecture fan, or avid photographer, a visit to Naumkeag should definitely be on your Berkshires itinerary. This glorious estate in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, not only features the Gilded Age “cottage” renowned architect Stanford White designed for attorney and diplomat Joseph Hodges Choate and his family, but it also showcases one of New England’s most impressive and imaginative gardens.
Naumkeag’s second-generation owner, Mabel Choate, met Fletcher Steele, the father of modern landscape design, in 1926. Over a thirty-year collaboration, they transformed the property’s gardens and grounds. Mabel deeded her estate to the Trustees of Reservations, a non-profit that has carefully preserved Fletcher’s vision.
Functional and Beautiful
When Naumkeag’s owner, Mabel Choate, asked landscape architect Fletcher Steele to create steps leading down to her cutting garden, she got more than she bargained for! The Blue Steps provide both an easy descent and a vivid accent.
The Afternoon Garden
The Afternoon Garden was Fletcher Steele’s first landscape project at the Naumkeag estate in the Berkshires. These boxwood hedges were shaped to resemble an Oriental rug.
Stone Chairs
Mabel Choate complained that these stone chairs, designed for the Afternoon Garden at Naumkeag by landscape architect Fletcher Steele, weren’t very comfortable, but they are certainly pleasing to behold.
A Statue with a View
Stanford White, who designed the mansion at Naumkeag, commissioned Frederick MacMonnies to create this statue, “Young Faun with Heron,” for the front of the house. Fletcher Steele relocated it to his Afternoon Garden, where it enjoys a better view.
The South Lawn
A vibrant stand of Japanese maple trees on the South Lawn at Naumkeag draws attention to an ornate, Chinese-style, cast-iron pagoda. What’s inside?
The Sacred Rock
Inside the pagoda on the South Lawn at Naumkeag is a sacred rock, which Mabel Choate, the estate’s second-generation owner, brought back from China. According to legend, rubbing it will improve memory.
Asian Influences
Much like the mansion’s interior, the gardens at Naumkeag are imbued with souvenirs from the Choate family’s extensive travels.
A Rosy Overview
The rose garden at Naumkeag, with its serpentine pathways, was designed by Fletcher Steele to be best viewed from Mabel Choate’s second-floor bedroom.
Late Bloomers
The rose garden was already a bit past its prime when I toured Naumkeag’s gardens in July; June would be a better month to visit if you’re a rose enthusiast. Nonetheless, the peachy rose blooms were still beautiful.
The Evergreen Garden
The circular Evergreen Garden is one of Naumkeag’s oldest landscape features designed to take advantage of distant mountain views.
Something’s Fishy
During its restoration of Naumkeag’s landscape to its mid-twentieth century appearance, the Trustees of Reservations reproduced the fountain in the Evergreen Garden. The original, which dated to 1890, had disappeared.
