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For more on Naumkeag, see the first post in this series. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/MMlZuPW6zjg.

Inside the house

Ventfort (here and here) and The Mount – two nearby Berkshire cottages – went through many hands before they became museums. Much of their woodwork, walls, and finishes have been reconstructed, and many of their furnishings are later donations or purchases.

But Naumkeag was owned by the Choates until 1958, when Mabel Choate (who had redesigned many of the gardens with landscape architect Fletcher Steele) bequeathed the mansion and all its contents to The Trustees of Reservations. The house remains very much as it was when the Choates lived there.

For those of us who like knowing where we are …

The library is the room nearest the Afternoon Garden, which we saw last week. As an avid reader and an author, I love houses where there are so many books, they get their own room.

View west from inside the house.

Part of the foyer, which runs from the covered carriage entrance on the east side across across to the west side of the house. Beneath the protective matting, the floors are wood.

Parlor / drawing room, with turret.

The foyer was designed by McKim Mead & White to evoke a medieval hall. The dark colors indoors at Naumkeag are part of the reason I’d rather live in Edith Wharton’s The Mount … but I can appreciate the workmanship of this bench.

Yes, I know staircases are largely wasted space, and difficult to heat … but this one’s so lovely! It reminds me of the McKim, Meade & White stair hall reconstructed at the Metropolitan Museum.

Look at the woodwork above the mantelpiece. What craftsmanship!

Dining room, with views west to the Berkshires.

Study/schoolroom. The proportions, the size and framing of the windows … this room makes me very happy.

Joseph Choate’s study, in one of the turrets.

Second floor, not open to the public when I visited in 2020. Fletcher Steele, the landscape architect, was at Naumkeag so often that he had his own guest room.

Next week: the gardens on the north side of Naumkeag.

More

• Back in the summer of 2020, when most museums were still in lockdown or requiring masks, my husband and I discovered the pleasures of spending time in elaborate, exquisitely planned gardens. Our first excursion was to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, where we visited the Gilded Age mansions of Naumkeag, Ventfort, and The Mount. I shared photos of these on Facebook, but I prefer to have my photos on my own website. I’ve already shifted Ventfort (here and here). The Mount will follow eventually.
• For more Gilded Mansions and their gardens on this site, click here.
• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here. For examples of favorite recommendations from past years, click here.