One-Tank Trip /Cooperstown
A stop in perfect small-town America
COOPERSTOWN—It appears like a mirage along the shores of the largely undeveloped Otsego Lake in the midst of New York’s Leatherstocking Country south of Herkimer.
For 100 years, the Otesaga Hotel has graced the shores of this pristine lake. Otesaga, an Iroquois word for “a place of meetings” is ranked as one of America’s original grand lakeside hotels and was selected as a member of the Historic Hotels of America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
A magnificent federal-style, 135-room structure with an imposing front portico supported by massive 30-foot columns, the Otesaga occupies 700 feet of lake-front.
This centennial year is full of celebrations complete with menus from the inaugural year. When the hotel opened on July 12, 1909, the local paper wrote: “No more fortunate location could have been chosen for a hotel. From its windows and broad veranda, a view as charming as the Divine Hand ever painted fills the eye, while refreshing breezes from over the gentle waters fan the brow.”
Designed by New York architect Percy Griffin, the Otesaga was considered a marvel not just for its architectural beauty, sumptuous appointments and army of staff, but also for its engineering. When it opened, much was made of its 400 windows, the refrigerator that was cooled with 30 tons of ice, the central heating that could be individually adjusted, and the telephones in every room. (Buffalo’s Jewett Refrigerator Co. manufactured the highly praised refrigeration equipment.)
The hotel was the vision of Edward Severin Clark and Stephen Carlton Clark, grandsons of Cooperstown’s prominent benefactor Edward Clark, who was the patent attorney for Singer.
The hotel has been extensively renovated but retains an old-fashioned feel, with afternoon tea served in the imposing lobby overlooking the lake. The expansive veranda is lined with comfortable rocking chairs, perfect for watching the lake or the golfers playing on the hotel’s acclaimed Leatherstocking Golf Course just beyond the outdoor swimming pool. There is live entertainment nightly and a pianist in the main dining room where men and boys 12 and older are required to wear jackets for dinner. There is a casual restaurant downstairs where jackets are optional.
Classic Americana
The Otesaga is the grandest structure in Cooperstown, a village that could have been created by Disney. It’s a perfect model of small-town America that has managed to retain it character in the face of the thousands of visitors who come each year to pay homage to this shrine for baseball.
Even without baseball, Cooperstown would be celebrated as classic Americana. People come to see the gentle countryside, to play on lovely Lake Otsego, to attend critically acclaimed opera and to prowl over lands described by novelist James Fenimore Cooper, who was just 13 months old when his father created this town in 1790.
Though there are naysayers who dispute Cooperstown’s claim as the birthplace of baseball, the town has just the right look to have given birth to America’s pastime.
“It would be difficult to convey to the minds of those who have never witnessed it, the sublimity that characterizes the silence of a solitude as deep as that which now reigned over the Glimmerglass,” James Fenimore Cooper wrote in “The Deerslayer.” The Glimmerglass that Cooper found so hauntingly beautiful is Otsego Lake.
Even a casual visitor will notice that certain institutions seem oddly out of place for a village of just 2,400 with one stop light. The large and well-equipped Clark Sports Center seems more befitting a big college or university; the Glimmerglass Opera is one of the country’s finest regional opera houses; the hospital has world-renowned physicians on staff. Then there is the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Farmers’ Museum and the Fenimore Art Museum. All of these institutions can be traced to the beneficence of the Clark family.
The Fenimore Art Museum occupies the former site of James Fenimore Cooper’s farmhouse. Cooper, author of 32 novels including the “Leatherstocking Tales,” is the focus of the museum’s Cooper Room. Family portraits include one of his mother sitting on the rocking chair that came with her from New Jersey. Tradition has it that Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper refused to leave New Jersey for the wilds of central New York, saying she “could not face the wilderness.” After much pleading to no avail, her husband simply lifted the rocker with his wife in it and placed it in a wagon for the long trip. Downstairs is the impressive Thaw Collection of American Indian Art.
Across the road is the Farmers’ Museum, a tribute to the rural life of Otsego County. This was once the largest area in the country for growing hops (an important ingredient in making beer). Part of the museum is a town green that is ringed by 18th century stone buildings including a printer’s shop, a smithy, an apothecary, a tavern and a lawyer’s office. This is not a staged re-enactment. The weaver’s cloth is sold at the general store along with shutter latches created by the blacksmith. Children frolic on the green with old-time toys.
Don’t miss the Empire State Carousel featuring handcarved animals of New York, including Sal the Mule from the early days of the Erie Canal and Merry Dog, modeled on carver Gerry Holzman’s black Labrador retriever.
The museum that has brought fame to Cooperstown is the Baseball Hall of Fame, just three blocks from the Otesaga Hotel. The Hall of Fame is really the Hall of Nostalgia, where grown men and women can return to those magical times of their youth. Even non-baseball fans will find themselves drawn into this wondrous museum. A 200-seat theater is the setting for a fast-paced multimedia presentation that captures the spirit of the game.
During baseball season, the Game-of-the- Week plays continuously on video screens. Tributes to Babe Ruth include his Yankee Stadium locker, the ball, bat and uniform from his 60th home run and photos galore. There’s Ty Cobb’s glove; the bat Ted Williams used when he slammed his 521st home run in his very last time at the plate; and Shoeless Joe Jackson’s shoes.
Down the street is the legendary Doubleday Field, where there is usually a minor league or kids game going on during the season. The Sandlot Kid statue stands in front.
If you go
The Otesaga Resort Hotel: 60 Lake St., Cooperstown; (800) 348-6222, (607) 544-2502, www.otesaga.com . The hotel opens for the 100th season Friday with a special weekend package celebration. If you have a room receipt from years past, your rate will be the old room rate for the weekend.
If you are celebrating your 100th birthday during 2009, your stay will be free on this celebration weekend. Guests are invited to dress in 1909 period attire during the weekend. The hotel is open to the public April through Thanksgiving weekend.
Cooperstown: (888) 875-2969 or www.CooperstownGetAway.org . Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: 25 Main St., Cooperstown; (888) HALL-OF-FAME, www.baseballhalloffame.org . Farmers’ Museum: 5775 State Highway 80, Cooperstown; www.farmersmuseum.org . Fenimore Art Museum: 5798 State Highway 80, Cooperstown; www.fenimoreartmuseum.org . Driving directions
Take the New York Thruway to Exit 30 at Herkimer.
Take Route 28 south to Cooperstown. Turn left onto Chestnut Street and
follow it through the stoplight to Lake Street. Turn left onto Lake Street. The hotel is on the right.
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