Nearly 100 years to the day after a lunch prompted Arthur Tauck Sr. to launch a guided tour company, a group of Tauck employees visited the site in western Massachusetts that gave rise to that inspiration.
Six Tauck employees visited the Wigwam Western Summit near North Adams, Massachusetts, earlier this month while returning to the company’s Connecticut headquarters after visiting a motor coach supplier in Quebec. It was at the Wigwam in 1924 that the seed was planted for an idea that later grew into a global travel leader that today offers more than 170 land journeys and cruises to 70+ countries and all seven continents.
“To be at the site where Arthur Tauck Sr. was inspired to start our company, and to be there on what must be close to the 100th anniversary of his visit, is truly incredible,” said Tauck’s Vice President of Worldwide Operations, Joanne Gardner. “I can’t think of a more meaningful way to head into our centennial year.” Arthur Tauck’s fall 1924 visit led to the first Tauck tour the following summer, thus making 2025 the company’s 100th anniversary.
Equally excited with this month’s visit by the Tauck team was Kelly Scofield, who owns and operates the Wigwam with her husband Alan. “We just took over the Wigwam in September, and we were thrilled to discover the Wigwam’s shared history with Tauck,” said Scofield. “To learn how Tauck has grown over the years, and how the company has innovated and thrived, really excites and motivates us as we look to enhance and grow our own business.” Today, the Wigwam is a successful and beloved local coffeehouse, wine bar and crafts shop. Open seasonally and located high in the Hoosac Mountains along the historic Mohawk Trail (Route 2), the Wigwam offers incredible views over the surrounding area that are best appreciated at sunset from one of the rental cabins available on the property for overnight stays.
THE WIGWAM AND TAUCK
In 1924, Arthur Tauck Sr. was a budding 26-year-old entrepreneur who traveled by car throughout the northeast selling his own invention (an assortment of aluminum trays designed to organize and hold rolls of coins) to banks across the region. During a sales trip in the fall of that year, Tauck was having lunch at the Wigwam Western Summit near North Adams, Massachusetts. As he enjoyed the area’s colorful fall foliage, he was surprised to notice that the restaurant’s only other patrons seemed to be traveling salesmen like himself. He concluded that there were no leisure visitors enjoying the scenery because few outsiders knew the area well enough to travel through it without guidance.
On a lark the following summer, Tauck rented a Studebaker and brought six paying passengers along on a six-day, 1,100-mile sales trip through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York and Canada. More than 900 miles of the trip were over dirt roads. The group traveled in the morning, with Arthur pointing out sites of interest along the way. While guests relaxed at a different resort hotel each afternoon, Arthur made sales calls to banks. No additional trips were planned at first, but after word-of-mouth recommendations prompted repeated inquiries about future trips, Arthur reconsidered and his eponymous tour company was born.
