The Trustees of Reservations
A National Historic Landmark District, Naumkeag is now owned by The Trustees of Reservations, who operate it as a nonprofit museum.

The property encourages picnics and even keeps a basket of picnic blankets on the veranda! We did not have time to visit all of the gardens so we will be returning. If you go, try to do so on a clear day as we did. The views alone are worth the trip.

You should plan for at least 2 hours if you do the house tour and walk around the gardens. On a beautiful summer day you may find yourself sitting in a bench just soaking in the breathtaking views of the Berkshire hills.

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.

Definition of naumkeag (Entry 2 of 2) intransitive verb. : to buff a shoe bottom (as on a naumkeag machine) prior to the finishing process. transitive verb. : to buff (a shoe bottom) prior to finishing.

fishing place
Naumkeag was a Native American settlement at the time of English colonization in present day Salem, Massachusetts, meaning “fishing place,” from namaas (fish), ki (place) and age (at) or by another translation “eel-land.” However, the settlement Naumkeag was only one of a group of politically connected settlements in …

This film tells a remarkable story of cultural revival by the Wampanoag of Southeastern Massachusetts. Their ancestors ensured the survival of the Pilgrims in New England, and lived to regret it. Now they are saying loud and clear in their Native tongue, Âs Nutayuneân—We Still Live Here.

Native History & Indigenous Acknowledgement of Salem, Massachusetts. Before Roger Conant and his group of Europeans arrived on the land that is now Salem, the area was home to the Naumkeag band of the Massachusett tribe, a nomadic indigenous population.

naumkeag

1. naum·​keag | / ˈnȯmˌkeg /
2. variants: or naumkeag machine or naumkeag scourer.
3. plural -s.
4. / ” /
5. -ed/-ing/-s.

For instance, the Wampanoag tribe had religious leaders, called powwaws. Which means, “He or she is healing”. The Wampanoag tribe taught their people the importance of humility and thankfulness. The Wampanoag tribe has a creator, not a god.

The pilgrims stole from graves, the Wampanoag were devastated by disease, and the peace between them was political. Learn about the first encounter between the Pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621, their surprising relationship, and the reason a United States president created a holiday in honor of it.

wigwams
The Wampanoag built dome-shaped houses called wigwams, or wetus. Several families lived in each wigwam.

One of the Berkshires’ original gilded-age “cottages”, Naumkeag is famous for its eight acres of terraced gardens and landscaped grounds surrounded by forty acres of woodland, meadow, and pasture that stretch to the Housatonic River Valley.

The house was designed by Stanford White (one of his earliest commissions) with surrounding gardens that were designed & created over 30 yrs ago. The house’s furnishings are all original. It was a hot day and the mansion has no air conditioning and because of the coronavirus restrictions, only part of the first floor was open.

There is a regional bus system with routes between Berkshire towns including Stockbridge (see the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority website), but I don’t believe there is bus service within Stockbridge. Naumkeag is approximately one mile from town–walkable, but quite a hill.

Naumkeag is a designated National Historic Landmark. National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.