Formerly owned by the Choate Family of New York before it was bequeathed to The Trustees of Reservations<\/a> in 1958, Naumkeag<\/a> is a 44-room Berkshires \u201cCottage\u201d from the Gilded Age, filled with arts, antiques, and collections around from around the world. But it\u2019s the outdoor gardens that truly inspire, a masterpiece of 30 years of collaborative work by former owner, Mabel Choate, and her dear friend, Fletcher Steele, one of America\u2019s first modern landscape architects. Described by the Library of American Landscape History as a \u201cplayground for the imagination,\u201d The Trustees have just completed a 3-year, $3 million garden and landscape restoration project designed to rejuvenate the gardens and bring them back to Choate and Steele\u2019s original vision. The transformation includes the renovation of Fletcher Steele\u2019s iconic Blue Steps, one of the most photographed features in 20th-century American landscape design.<\/p>\n

This entry is excerpted from my latest book, New England in a Nutshell. The book\/ebook is slated to published on July 2nd and you can pre-order now at Amazon<\/a> or at the independent bookstore, Northshire<\/a>, located in Manchester Center, Vermont and Saratoga, New York. The ebook includes all hyperlinks to listings. The paperback includes front and back cover illustrations from Manhattan-based artist, Sarah Schechter, and a small sampling of photos from Lisa, who accompanied me on many of my assignments, resulting in published work for the Boston Globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Formerly owned by the Choate Family of New York before it was bequeathed to The Trustees of Reservations in 1958, Naumkeag is a 44-room Berkshires \u201cCottage\u201d from the Gilded Age, filled with arts, antiques, and collections around from around the world. But it\u2019s the outdoor gardens that truly inspire, a masterpiece of 30 years of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[159,160,161],"class_list":["post-7244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-finds","tag-massachusetts","tag-naumkeag","tag-the-trustees"],"yoast_head":"\n