Shhh! This is supposed to be a secret. Only a discerning few know the true destination of folks who hike the Leverett Trail. I'll let you in on the secret only on condition that you tell no one I told you about it. :-)
Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts
Friday, August 1, 2025
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Monday, July 28, 2025
Gardens
I've read that Naumkaeg's gardens and landscaped grounds were first designed in the late 1880s by Nathan Barrett, then transformed and expanded between 1926 and 1956 by Fletcher Steele and Mabel Choate.
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Study
Linda, the other day, commented on the staff that would be required to keep Naumkaeg, with its 44 rooms, clean. Well, in addition, to hiring people to do that, he also employed a secretary (note the desk in the foreground) and, eventually, a butler and footman. I'm told he employed the latter after a visit to some of the great homes in England.
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Friday, July 25, 2025
Dining Room
A number of visitors touring Naumkaeg's dining room commented rather unfavorably on the dark green bamboo-like wallpaper. I confess, I hadn't noticed it. Being a tea drinker, my eye was drawn instead toward the number of tea pots on the stand to the right. Fantastic! But where were the teacups??? Nary a one in sight. Hmm. . .
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Afternoon Garden
According to the National Trust for Historic Preservatio, the Afternoon Garden, complete with its Venetian poles was Fletcher Steele's first landscape project at the Naumkeag estate in the Berkshires. The boxwood hedges were shaped to resemble an Oriental rug.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Blue Steps
(View from below)
One of the first features people see upon visiting Naumkaeg, depending on how they approach the house, are its iconic Blue Steps. According to the Library of American Landscape History, Fletcher Steele "used industrial materials—cast concrete and metal pipe—and the Italian Renaissance form of the water staircase, planted with lithe white birches that uncannily mimic the stair railings."
(View from above)
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Naumkaeg
According to Wikipedia, "Naumkeag is the former country estate of noted New York City lawyer Joseph Hodges Choate and Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate, located at 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The estate's centerpiece is a 44-room, Shingle Style country house designed principally by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White, and constructed in 1885 and 1886." I stopped by for a visit shortly after attending the BSO's rehearsal at Tanglewood.
Monday, July 21, 2025
Tanglewood
Spent a lovely several hours in the Berkshires attending one of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's (BS0) rehearsals at Tanglewood. Recorded just a snippet of Yefim Bronfman "practicing" Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3 with the BSO while lounging on the lawn in the shade of a tree and snacking on crackers and cheese.
Sunday, July 20, 2025
Ticks!
I've read that ticks are a growing problem here in western Massachusetts as well as many other places around the United States. I didn't discover any after hiking this trail, but only days later, I did pull one off of my ankle after hiking another trail. You really can't be too careful.
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Enfield Look Out
Yeah, okay. I know it doesn't look like that much. But that's because the town of Enfield was flooded to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir. It used to occupy the land just below that hill (Mt. Ram?) in the center background. A branch of the reservoir actually stretches between those trees in the foreground and the hill beyond. This map does a great job at explaining what you're seeing.
Friday, July 18, 2025
Hairy Parchment?
I'm still not able to positively identify more than probably a handful of mushrooms, if even that many.
What I have learned to do, however, is to pay close--well, closer--attention to the details surrounding said mushrooms. In the case of the mushroom shown above, I 'm pretty sure that it's attached to the what remains of a deciduous tree. That alone, I understand, whittles down the possibilities. Now, as to whether it is actually a Hairy Parchment mushroom, who knows? It certainly share a number of its characteristics. Spotted along the Enfield Lookout Trail near Ware, Massachusetts.
Thursday, July 17, 2025
DCR
No matter how long or short the trail, I find that I am almost always relieved to know that I'm still on the right path because there have been times when, unbeknownst to myself, I have somehow managed to go astray, either because there was no sign or--God forbid!--the sign's directions were not entirely clear or, in fact, in some cases, even misleading. All of which is to say, my hat's off to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and its good works!
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Monday, July 14, 2025
Enfield Lookout Trail
After hiking the length of Winsor Dam and back, I decided to hike the Enfield Lookout Trail. Enfield was one of the towns flooded to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.

Sunday, July 13, 2025
Winsor Dam
Nothing quite prepares you for the size of Winsor Dam. 2640 ft (805 m) long, 35 feet wide (10.7 m), with a maximum bottom width of 1100 ft (335 m), it's breathtaking.
Built to help create one of the largest unfiltered water supplies in the United States, the 412 billion gallon reservoir covers 39 square miles with 181 miles of shoreline.
Nothing I did with my iPhone camera could adequately capture it's vast dimensions. But in this last photo, if you expand it, you might just be able to make out the form of someone hiking in the shadow of the trees along the trail in the center right.
Saturday, July 12, 2025
The Beneski
Fascinating to think about and to actually see artifacts related to the natural history of western Massachusetts and the earth. That's what makes a visit to the Beneski Natural History Museum at Amherst College such a treat. Thousands of these objects are on display here, while thousands more are stored away for use by both students and faculty around the world.
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