Introduction
77 miles W of Albany; 141 miles E of Rochester; 213 miles NW of New York City
Set on gorgeous (and mostly undeveloped) Lake Otsego, this tiny village feels frozen in an era when gracious mansions lined the streets, folks greeted you by name, and people played a stick-and-ball game that didn't even have a name yet. The town of 2,400 people swells to 50,000 on summer weekends, but despite the crush of visitors, Cooperstown hasn't outgrown its small-town roots. With a couple of exceptions, you won't find chain stores here (the horror! no Starbucks!). Coffeehouses, bookstores, and restaurants are, for the most part, independently run. That personalized, hands-on ownership shows: People are friendly and excited to turn you on to their town.
Though once home to author James Fenimore Cooper -- who named Lake Otsego "Glimmerglass" in his Leatherstocking Tales -- the town was actually named for his father, William Cooper, in 1786. Today most people come to see the Baseball Hall of...
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Baseball Hall of Fame
Yes, you'll find plenty of statistics-spouting baseball fanatics walking around the Hall. But this museum isn't just for passionate lovers of the...
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Hyde Hall
This enormous neoclassic mansion museum is quite the anomaly here in the land of small towns. Built by George Clarke, the 50-room home was built...
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- Museums
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Farmers' Museum
Don't let the name throw you: This walk-through-the-buildings museum is an interesting look at rural village life around 1845. The 25 historic...
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