Peonies in Bloom

Last weekend, I traveled out to Stockbridge to experience Naumkeag's famous peonies in bloom. My afternoon started with a wonderful luncheon with nearly 40 guests from throughout the Commonwealth, including many of our active Berkshires supporters and Board members. As we celebrated the beginning of the blooming season, I had the chance to share details of our ambitious, 30-month project to restore all of Naumkeag's beautiful landscape features to the splendor of their prime.

Naumkeag's peonies in bloom are a
welcome sign of spring.

If you read the spring issue of Special Places, The Trustees' member magazine, then you'll know that the gardens at Naumkeag are the result of a remarkable 30-year creative collaboration between Mabel Choate, whose family built the estate, and Fletcher Steele, the premier landscape architect who, in the 1920s and 1930s, redefined modern landscape design. The joy and delight that went into these gardens' creation is evident in every bloom and every detail – and it is their spirit of collaboration and whimsy that still shines through today and makes these gardens a draw for visitors from all over the world.

When Mabel Choate entrusted The Trustees to care for Naumkeag, it was a tremendous vote of confidence in us as excellent caretakers of this treasured place. The Trustees are so well known as caretakers of land, but as the nation's first organization dedicated to conserving properties for the benefit of public use, we believe that our cultural properties are just as powerful and compelling a platform for improving the quality of life of Massachusetts residents as our scenic landscapes.

That's why we're so excited to now be working to restore Naumkeag today – thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor who has challenged us to match their $1 million gift by September of this year. We've been so inspired by this special place over the years, and we want others to be as inspired by its stories and its beauty for years to come.

Cindy Brockway shares the history of
the Peony Terrace.

As for my day on the Peony Terrace last Saturday, after the luncheon, we were joined by more than 50 more people for our annual Peonies in Bloom event. Cultural Resources Program Director Cindy Brockway shared with all of us the history of these striking fieldstone terraces and the 60 varieties of flowers that bloom here, while Scott Fulford, our Garden Restoration Expert Guide, gave our group a detailed update on the project (the renovation of the famed Blue Steps is well under way!), and Interpretive Manager Wally Swist gave a reading of Mary Oliver's poem "Peonies."

It was a wonderful way to welcome spring, to celebrate these gardens in bloom – and to look ahead to the renewed and revitalized Naumkeag to come.