The gardens at Naumkeag are recognized world-wide for their iconic blue steps and grove of white birches. The property is run as a public garden by The Trustees of Reservations, who have been gifted with remarkable cultural resources that continue to connect people to place, and art to nature across iconic properties in Massachusetts, USA. A recent four-year restoration of Mabel Choate and Fletcher Steele’s masterpiece, Naumkeag, overlooking the Berkshire hills, ‘polished’ their 1926-1956 garden. Steele believed that garden making should be considered one of the fine arts. His fine attention to line, colour and texture, and Choate’s pursuit of the best horticultural selections drove the restoration. Fuelled by new programmes and events, and a business planning model based on the English National Trust, Naumkeag is now opened from early spring to late December drawing record crowds as the carefully preserved garden sparkles in every season. This lecture outlines the development of Naumkeag through its creators’ own words and engages the audience with its remarkable restoration discoveries, as The Trustees continue to polish this masterpiece garden.
Lucinda A. Brockway is the Managing Director of Cultural Resources at The Trustees. Brockway leads a team of cultural resource specialists seeking innovative solutions for cultural sites ignited by the unique legacy of each property. Brockway facilitated the curation of landscape research, planning and investments in three National Landmark sites including Naumkeag (Stockbridge, Massachusetts USA) which included rethinking the role of house, collections, landscape, and ruins for public engagement and directed new archival research to unlock the unique spirit of place at each property. A published author and landscape preservation expert, Brockway serves as instructor for the National Preservation Institute (Alexandria VA), and offers lectures nationwide each year on historic preservation, landscape history and design and served as an expert for numerous conference presentations.
The Gardens Trust will present a Zoom illustrated lecture with Ms. Brockway on October 26 at 2 pm as the last installment of October’s Unforgettable Gardens Series. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards. £5 Register HERE through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unforgettable-gardens-naumkeags-garden-preservation-as-a-fine-art-tickets-372282245217
