A National Historic Landmark, this Colonial-era house and museum and garden tells the story of the Stockbridge Mohicans and missionary John Sergeant.
Plan Your Visit
- Overview
- Ideas for Your Visit
- Admission & Hours
- Directions & Contact Info
- Regulations & Advisories
Overview
New England’s Colonial history—from the perspective of the colonists as well as the indigenous peoples who preceded them—comes alive inside the home to the first missionary to the Mohican Indians. In the mid-1730s, the Mohicans living in western Massachusetts permitted a young minister to live among them. The Rev. John Sergeant lived in a simple cabin until he married Abigail Williams in 1739 and built The Mission House around 1742. Originally located on Prospect Hill in Stockbridge, this National Historic Landmark was carefully disassembled, moved, and restored by Mabel Choate—who owned Naumkeag, just up the hill—at its present location between 1926 and 1930.
Ideas for Your Visit
Take a look at the property’s entrancing horticultural legacy, with a self-guided tour through a Colonial Revival garden designed by noted landscape architect Fletcher Steele between 1928 and 1933. A tidewater cypress fence encloses a dooryard garden of circular brick paths, while a kitchen garden divided by a crushed-stone walkway contains 100 herbs, perennials, and annuals that had culinary or medicinal value to early colonists. A house brims with an outstanding collection of 18th-century American furniture and decorative arts. Elsewhere, a small Native American museum offers Mohican artifacts gathered by Mabel Choate in the early 1930s and shares perspectives and insights from Mohicans today.
Admission & Hours
The gardens are open daily for self-guided tours, the interior of the house and Mohican Miles Exhibit is open seasonally, closed in the fall and winter.
Directions & Contact Info
19 Main Street
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Telephone: 413.298.3239
E-mail naumkeag@thetrustees.org
Get directions on Google Maps.
From Points East: Mass Turnpike (I-90), Exit 10 to Rt. 20 East. Take 1st right onto Rt. 102 West/Pleasant St. Follow for approx. 5 mi. Pleasant St. becomes Main St. The Mission House is on the right at corner of Main St. and Sergeant St.
From Points West: I-90 East to Exit B3, NY Rt. 22 South. Follow Rt. 22 to MA Rt. 102 East. Go approx. 7.5 mi. to Main St. The Mission House is at corner of Main and Sergeant. Limited roadside parking.
Regulations & Advisories
- Photography is not permitted inside the house.
- Dogs are not allowed on the property.
- The red barn behind the Mission House serves as The Trustees’ Berkshires Regional Office.
