Experience Gilded Age style and splendor at this marvelous estate renowned for its elegant gardens and rare Berkshire “cottage.”
Plan Your Visit
- Overview
- Ideas for Your Visit
- Admission & Hours
- Directions & Contact Info
- Facilities & Accessibility
- Property Map
- Regulations & Advisories
Overview
Naumkeag is a public garden and historic home in the heart of the Berkshires, Massachusetts.
This 48-acre architectural masterpiece is, at its heart, a family home. In 1884, Joseph Choate, a prominent New York attorney and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, and his wife, Caroline, hired the famous architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White to design a summer retreat. The result was a 44-room shingle-style home, where several generations of the Choate family lived until daughter Mabel Choate bequeathed it to The Trustees in 1958.
Click here for more information on the Daffodil and Tulip festival at Naumkeag.
Ideas for Your Visit
When you visit this National Historic Landmark, carve out time to explore the superlative gardens created by Mabel Choate and noted landscape architect Fletcher Steele. Take in the Blue Steps, a series of deep blue fountain pools, flanked by four flights of stairs and a grove of white birches. Elsewhere walk through the stunning beautiful Afternoon Garden, Tree Peony Terrace, Rose Garden, Evergreen Garden, and Chinese Garden, each of which evinces beauty while revealing the playful, inventive spirit of collaboration between Ms. Choate and Mr. Steele, which played out over the span of 30 years.
Admission & Hours
Naumkeag is currently closed for the season and will reopen in the Spring for our Daffodil and Tulip Festival.
For any questions, please reach out to naumkeag@thetrustees.org.
Directions & Contact Info
5 Prospect Hill Road
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Telephone:
In season (June 1-Oct 8) 413.298.8138
Off season (Oct 9-November 27) 413.298.3239 x3008
E-mail: naumkeag@thetrustees.org
Directions
From Points East:
Mass Turnpike (I-90), Exit 10. Take Rt. 102 West approx. 5 mi. into Stockbridge. Turn right onto Pine St. and bear left onto Prospect Hill Rd. Follow for 0.5 mi. to entrance and parking (20 cars) on left.
From Points West:
I-90 East to Exit B3, NY Rt. 22 South. Take 1st left onto Rt. 102 East. Follow approx. 7.5 mi. to Stockbridge. Turn left onto Pine St., then bear left onto Prospect Hill Rd. Follow directions above.
Facilities & Accessibility
Bathrooms are now open.
Accessibility features
Wheelchair access: While the property is not 100% wheelchair accessible, there are many parts of the garden that can be seen via wheelchair by way of the driveway. We can also bring people in a wheelchair through the front door to the first floor of the house and back onto the top lawn.
Wheelchair accessible bathrooms: There is a ramp into the entry way of the bathrooms and a handicapped stall in each.
Wheelchair accessible parking: We have parking up at the front of the house that is wheelchair accessible and on the side of the house near the restrooms.
Wheelchair accessible trails: While many parts of the gardens can be viewed via wheelchair, mostly by access of the driveway, the trails through the gardens are mostly made of woodchips or stairs/steep hills that are not wheelchair accessible.
Property Map
A self-guided landscape tour brochure provided with admission to house and/or gardens. Download a trail map here.
Regulations & Advisories
- Dogs are not allowed.
- Mountain biking is not allowed on the reservation.
- Naumkeag is not ADA-compliant, due to the age of the site. There are many stairs, a steep hillside, uneven footing, etc.
- The Trustees reserves the right to photograph or video visitors and program participants for promotional use, and usage of our properties implies consent. Read the photo and video policy.
