Cooperstown and Leatherstocking, Perfect Together!

This is really our first “Official Sojourn” after landing in New Jersey about two weeks ago, but we left our ‘House on Wheels’ back at Yetter’s Diner because we are fortunate to be the guests of Barb, one of Paula’s oldest (in the terms of longevity!) and dearest friends.

Barb lives directly on the eastern shore of Otsego Lake. This is significant as there are just three homes on the eastern (nine-mile) shore once you leave the little hamlet of Cooperstown. Three homes all snugged together on a parcel that defies a reasonable explanation of why they are here except that maybe back in the day someone knew someone and snagged this property. The entrance is steep, scary steep, like no one winters here cuz ya ain’t getting out if it snows deep.

And there are no sewers out this far….. and no septic systems either because of their proximity to the Lake, which is about as clear as it gets until maybe the Virgin Islands or someplace like that.

That means that…. Yup! You guessed it!

Pump/Holding Tanks!

It’s like having the motorhome here in a way except our tanks are about fifty gallons while Barb’s are several thousand!

This area of New York State is familiar to all of us in so many ways but until you delve into why it’s familiar you cannot make the connections.

The first is the name of the local municipality:

Cooperstown.

We all know that one!

Baseball’s Holy Grail is located here, The Baseball Hall of Fame is ensconced right in the center of town. Why here? Well… more on that later.

Second, we need to go back to Required Reading List in high school for this one, (and this never hit me until I figured out where I was…..) we’re smack-dab-in-the-middle-of the Last of the Mohican’s territory and the stomping grounds of Natty Bumpo or Leatherstocking, of the combined stories that make up the Leatherstocking Tales.

And we all know who wrote those stories back the early 1800’s…… James Fenimore Cooper….. as in Cooperstown!

Man, did I feel like an idiot for not making that connection!

So, Cooperstown has not one, but two (!) great reasons for visiting the area, not to mention the gorgeous countryside and the pristine lake.

            This area has it’s very own philanthropic well-to-do (that’s an understatement!) family that is the backbone of the region. The Clark family (who?) has called this area home since the early 1800’s when the family had a law practice located here. The Clarks acquired large tracts of land (about ten-thousand acres) that were formerly owned by James Fenimore Cooper, thus cementing the familial relationship to the area forever.

This is where it gets interesting as this Clark Family’s economic tendrils wove a web that was far-reaching, but at the same time, so local. I’ll just throw out a few aspects of this so we can “cut to the chase”.

Issac Singer (sewing machine, grandaddy Clark was a partner)

Abner Doubleday (baseball)

The Explorer’s Club (NYC, he built the original building)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art ( The Met – NYC)

The Modern Museum of Art (MoMA – NYC)

And many more! (just to name a few)

As you can see, the “Art” side of this family runs deep and that is reflected in the next enterprise that calls this area home and that is the Fenimore Art Museum nestled on the western shore of Otsego Lake. As with any type of organization, having an “Old Money” benefactor goes far especially when that Money acquired many a piece of collectible art along the way. The Fenimore’s collection is a wonderful example of this with many an American “Master” being represented, along with the requisite “Old World” Masters. You may recall (or you may have quietly dismissed 😊) our Art History lesson about the Hudson River School of the mid-1800’s that are housed in the Albany Institute of History and Art (see ‘Journey or Destination’ blog date 08/21/2021). Anyway, as you can imagine, there is something special about seeing revered artwork in the place that it originated, and that region is right here!

Let’s get back to the biggie around here and that has to be the Baseball Hall of Fame. I always wondered why it was located in Cooperstown, New York.

What was the relationship?

Did baseball start here?

Just wait… it gets better!

We’re going back to the Civil War and a very successful and likeable general by the name of Abner Doubleday, who had roots in this area. As baseball grew in popularity and teams became more and more “official” and rules and leagues were being formed, someone needed to know how and where the game started. We’re not going to delve deep into the resulting controversy of its origins but results of this erroneous claim made the local farmer’s field in Cooperstown the site of Abner Doubleday’s “first” game being played.

But…. enough damage and false information was perpetrated that eighty or so years later, when the town of Cooperstown was suffering deeply from the Great Depression and the demise of one of its best industries, the growing of hops for beer (Oh no! Prohibition!) one of the prominent locals, Stephen Carlton Clark (there’s that name again!) founded and paid for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. His goal was to bring tourists to his little hamlet and thus help the local economy. He was also a newspaper man, the owner of three Albany newspapers, including the Albany Evening Journal, hence the convenient tie-in with the Baseball Writers Association with the nomination and election of prospective members of the Hall of Fame.

I’d have to think that by any definition, he was very successful!

To this day, the Clark Family owns the Baseball Hall of Fame (not Major League Baseball) and his granddaughter, Jane Forbes Clark, is the current Chairperson. If you follow international Equestrian Events, you will recognize Janes name as she has been influential not only as a rider, but also with her position of leadership in the United States Olympic Equestrian Team organization.

Jane has continued to follow those philanthropic steps laid down by her forefathers and her generosity around here is well noted. When the hospital (which her family built) suffered a fire, she brought all of the patients over to the Otesaga Hotel (which her family started) and housed them until all was remedied. Jane is the last of that direct family although the family foundation is very well established to continue the work that they started those may years ago.

Sorry for the rambling, there are so many integrated storylines here that it is difficult to separate them as they are all related in some wonderful way! It’s way more fun to just come up here (only three hours from Sussex County!) spend a few days and find it all out for yourself!