By: Marcia Abramson
As a matter of fact, even I was an avid Brooklyn Dodgers fan and could give you the statistics, including hitting records of such greats as Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Ralph Kiner and Cookie Lavagetto, to name just a few of those great players in the Hall of Fame. But I must confess that my interest in baseball has waned since the Dodgers left Brooklyn for the floods, fires and earthquakes of Los Angeles. However, the trip down Memory Lane at Cooperstown was just the right incentive for me to plan a special Thanksgiving celebration there for the family this year.The venerable Grand Dame Otesaga Hotel Resort has launched a family-friendly program at Cooperstown that includes many special village-wide events, including tickets to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, a trip to the living history of the 1840s at the Farmers' Museum, family fun activities at Filer's Corner Schoolhouse and a visit to the Fenimore Art Museum. This promises to be a great weekend just about a four-hour drive from Long Island and 60 miles from Albany. On my past visits to Cooperstown, I was greatly impressed by how Cooperstown has remained an unspoiled repository of America's early history dating back to 1786 when famed novelist James Fenimore Cooper's father, William Cooper, bought a huge tract of virgin land and sold parts of it to anyone willing to buy. The terms were very moderate and allowed many settlers to become landowners in the first planned frontier community. He was also there to provide loans to assist the newcomers during the hard winter months to clear and farm the land and survive. I particularly enjoyed the stories still being told about the stubbornness of Mr. Cooper and his wife. Just four years after his purchase and sale to new settlers, he felt it was time for his wife and family to join him and move from civilized Burlington, N.J. to his new frontier. According to area historians, Mrs. Cooper said "No" and refused to move from her favorite parlor chair and sat tight. But Mr. Cooper directed the movers to lift the chair with Mrs. Cooper in it onto a wagon for the trip to what is now the village of Cooperstown. Cooper was an ardent Federalist and became a most important political figure, first as a judge and then as a member of Congress. He stood firm on his convictions and during a heated debate at a political gathering, he was killed by an unknown assailant with a blow to the head in 1809. Cooperstown gained the limelight during the Revolutionary War with a very meaningful victory over the British and their Indian allies. General James Clinton was ordered by Commander-in-Chief George Washington to take his force of 5,000 men to Lake Otesaga to build a dam raising the water level of the Susquehanna River four feet. This enabled the troops to man boats, knock out the dam and surge downriver on a flood tide to Tioga Point, where they met up with a second Revolutionary army and defeated the British with an assist by Chief Joseph Brant and his Iroquois braves. America's contribution to American history and the world's Literary Hall of Fame is undoubtedly William Cooper's son, James Fenimore Cooper. The author, as a child, was free to roam the woods around his home, Otsego Hall, where he became enmeshed with the romanticism of pioneer and Indian folk lore as well as the beauty of the natural scenery. These were reflected in his writing of the Leatherstocking Tales, including the Pioneers and the Deerslayer, both set in Otsego County. He is also credited with creating the first great fictional character, Hawkeye, a white man raised by the Indians with an understanding of both cultures. James Fenimore Cooper was also a civic-minded Cooperstownian endowed with the dream of a brilliant future for his village, which has come to pass. JF Cooper's stories should whet your appetite for more than just the turkey and trimmings this Thanksgiving and get you headed for all that Cooperstown has to offer.For further information, you can contact your local travel professional or the Village of Cooperstown toll free at 888-875-2969.
Copyright by Marcia AbramsonEmail: mascribe@aol.com
