Mabel Choate

Mabel Choate (December 26, 1870 – December 11, 1958) was an American gardener, collector and philanthropist.[1]

Mabel Choate

Biography

Born on December 26, 1870, in New York City, Mabel Choate was the fourth of five children of Joseph Choate and Caroline Sterling.[2] Her father Joseph Choate was a prominent lawyer, and served as U.S Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1899 to 1904. Her mother, Caroline Sterling, an artist and educational reformer, played an instrumental role in advancing women’s higher education, and, along with a group of women including Annie Nathan Meyer, founded Barnard College at Columbia University in 1888.

She studied at Brearley School, which was founded by her mother. Her family summered at Naumkeag, their “summer cottage” on Prospect Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which was designed by the New York City-based firm McKim, Mead & White.[3][4]

In July 1926, she met Fletcher Steele, prominent American landscape architect, while he was delivering a lecture at the Lenox Garden Club.[5] With the help of Fletcher Steele, she developed a series of modernist gardens at Naumkeag, which made it as one of the horticultural show places of the Berkshires.[3][6][7]

In 1927, she purchased the historic Mission House (Stockbridge, Massachusetts). It was built c. 1740 for Reverend John Sergeant (missionary), the first missionary to the local Mohican people. Choate saved the house from demolition and turned it into a historic house museum.[8] She was also a collector of ceramics, furniture, and fine and decorative arts including from China and India.[9]

She did not marry. She was actively involved in philanthropic activities, and associated with a number of professional associations at different capacities.[10]

She died in New York City on December 11, 1958. She left both Naumkeag and the Mission House to the Trustees of Reservations to be preserved for public enjoyment.

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mabel Choate.
  1. Seale, William (5 March 2013). The Garden Club of America: One Hundred Years of a Growing Legacy. New York City: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-588-34328-4. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  2. Rosenberg, Rosalind (3 November 2004). Changing the Subject: How the Women of Columbia Shaped the Way We Think About Sex and Politics. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-231-50114-9. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  3. Leveille, Gary (2014). Legendary Locals of the Southern Berkshires. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-467-10124-0. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  4. Turino, Kenneth C. (13 September 2019). Reimagining Historic House Museums: New Approaches and Proven Solutions. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-442-27299-6. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  5. Karson, Robin S. (2003). Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect: An Account of the Gardenmaker's Life, 1885-1971. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-558-49413-8. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  6. Riess, Jana (2002). The Spiritual Traveler: Boston and New England : a Guide to Sacred Sites and Peaceful Places. Santa Monica: Hidden Spring. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-587-68008-3. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  7. Gardens of Eden: Among the World's Most Beautiful Gardens. Melbourne: The Miegunyah Press. 1 April 2010. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-522-85776-4. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  8. Spencer, Thomas S. (2005). Gardens Across America: The American Horticultural Society's Guide to American Public Gardens and Arboreta, Volume 1. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-589-79102-2. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  9. Karson 2003, p. 254.
  10. "Miss Mabel Choate, 88, Dies; Noted Stockbridge Resident". The Berkshire Eagle. 11 Dec 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
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