The Mission House Main Street Stockbridge, MA 413-289-3239 Open
Memorial Day - Columbus Day for guided tours, Tuesday - Sunday and
Monday holidays, 11 am - 3:30 pm Closed Tuesday after the holidays.
Admission fee for non members.
he oldest and one of the best known homes in Stockbridge
Massachusetts, the Mission House is a chaste dwelling that is archetypal
Old Yankee, no frills, sturdy and pleasing in its simplicity and
symmetry. It was built in 1739 by the first missionary to the Mahican
Indians, the Reverend John Sergeant, as an improved shelter for he and
his wife Abigail, following the simple log cabin the Yale preacher had
originally constructed. The paneled doorway is cited as a prime example
of Connecticut Valley architecture. It was, in fact, carved in
Connecticut and dragged over 50 miles of rugged terrain by Oxen, and is
marked by elaborate woodworking depicting biblical themes. Following
Sergeant’s death, the estimable Calvinist clergyman Jonathan Edwards
took over the Mission as his next assignment after being forced from his
Northampton pulpit. Even he was unable to sustain the work and the
Indians were eventually driven off and the Mission closed. Eventually,
the Mission House, ravaged by years of neglect, came into possession of
Mabel Choate (see Naumkeag), who had the resource to restore the home to
its original state. In 1929, she had it moved to the site where
Sergeant’s first log cabin stood, right in the center of town. The house
is currently a treasure trove of 17th and 18th-century furnishings and
is surrounded by Colonial period gardens which were conceived by
Naumkeag’s landscape architect Fletcher Steele.
The Mission House
he oldest and one of the best known homes in Stockbridge
Massachusetts, the Mission House is a chaste dwelling that is archetypal
Old Yankee, no frills, sturdy and pleasing in its simplicity and
symmetry. It was built in 1739 by the first missionary to the Mahican
Indians, the Reverend John Sergeant, as an improved shelter for he and
his wife Abigail, following the simple log cabin the Yale preacher had
originally constructed. The paneled doorway is cited as a prime example
of Connecticut Valley architecture. It was, in fact, carved in
Connecticut and dragged over 50 miles of rugged terrain by Oxen, and is
marked by elaborate woodworking depicting biblical themes. Following
Sergeant’s death, the estimable Calvinist clergyman Jonathan Edwards
took over the Mission as his next assignment after being forced from his
Northampton pulpit. Even he was unable to sustain the work and the
Indians were eventually driven off and the Mission closed. Eventually,
the Mission House, ravaged by years of neglect, came into possession of
Mabel Choate (see 
