My husband is awfully surprised when I ask him if we can go to Cooperstown for the weekend. After all, he’s the die-hard Red Sox fan; I just watch a game or two to keep him company. I don’t know the first thing about the legendary “Road to Cooperstown,” I’ve only vaguely heard that the Hall of Fame has started honoring players from the Women’s Professional and the Negro Leagues, and the Jim Rice controversy doesn’t even ring a bell.

But a few friends have visited recently and told me that Cooperstown is one of the most charming, Norman Rockwell-esque villages they’ve ever seen. I’m always up for a little hometown Americana, so we set off in the minivan, my husband scarcely believing his good luck, our two daughters excited to see “the town that invented baseball,” I ready for a weekend of relaxing at a nice hotel and playing some good golf.

We arrive at the Otesaga Resort Hotel late on Friday night.  We’re tired, hungry, ready for food and bed – but the lake calls. Its name – the Glimmerglass – seems appropriate even in the dark; with the lights on around the resort, we can just barely see what’s going to turn out to be the spot we visit again and again all weekend, whether for the golf course, for a breakfast picnic, or for a moonlight stroll which would be the ultimate in romance were two school-aged girls not giggling behind us at every step.

The Otesaga is special – worth a trip even if you aren’t a baseball fan.  Near Cooperstown’s classic Main Street (more on that in a minute), it’s luxurious without being fussy, decorated in chintz but welcoming even to the busloads of macho baseball fans that flood the town from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Our room has two four-poster double beds, a sitting area, and a tiled bathroom big enough for me to make an escape for a long, hot bath – until the kids decide enough’s enough early on Saturday morning and demand that we take in the sights.  

We head out to the Farmer’s Museum down the street. The sun is sparkling, the birds are waking up, and my girls find half a robin’s egg on the ground underneath a tree. They are entranced, and we spend a good fifteen minutes looking for the robin’s nest. The only thing that will drag them away – and I do mean drag – is the baby lambs inside the authentic 1840’s recreation village. They’ve just been born two hours before, and the farmers – real farmers in period costume – allow the girls to hold and pet them.  We wander around the farm for hours, as the crisp air rings with cackles (chickens), gobbles (enormous turkeys roaming around), and bleats (so many lambs that we lose count). Children feed animals in the barnyard, and the blacksmith pounds iron at his real forge, complete with giant gallows. We end our visit with quite a few rides on the Empire State Carousel. Carousel manufacturing was at its peak in the mid-nineteenth century in New York, and this elaborate merry-go-round pays tribute to that industry, as well as to the culture, legends, and history of the state.

Next, we drop into the Fenimore Art Museum across the street. Nestled on the western shore of Otsego Lake, housed in an elegant 1930’s neo-Georgian mansion, the museum presents a perspective on the heritage and history of America through art. The beauty of the museum setting is matched by the quality of the collection it houses, including some of the nation’s finest examples of American landscape, history, and genre paintings, American folk art, photography, and American Indian art. We explore the exhibits and the grounds, but our bellies are grumbling (so are the kids), so we call it a morning and head in to Main Street for lunch.

When we first hit Main Street, we almost expect to see horses and buggies; the street looks like something out of another time. So does Danny’s, an old-time general store where the locals have sent us for lunch.  And while it looks like a hole-in-the-wall on the outside, it’s pretty amazing on the inside.  We chow down on hot-out-of-the-oven apple blackberry muffins, homemade butter cookies, colossal cupcakes . . . and then we start lunch. I choose the “Aged in Caves” sandwich, a huge combination of French bread with prosciutto, smoked gouda, and honey cup mustard.  My husband, on the other hand, tries the “Glimmer glass,” ripe brie cheese with Greek olive spread and olive oil vinaigrette on fresh baked focaccia. The kids just want another cupcake; we acquiesce, figuring we’re on vacation – and grab another couple of cupcakes for ourselves.

And now it’s time for the big event:  the Hall of Fame. My husband is almost reverent as he wanders through the exhibits honoring great Red Sox of yesteryear (yes, they have other teams there, too, but my husband would deny it). The kids and I soon realize that we could be here for the rest of the weekend. As luck would have it, though, there’s something here for us, too – some alumnae of the Women’s Professional Baseball League are in town, and we’re invited to join them for tea. We’re at a table with Sarah Jane “Salty” Sands Ferguson, who regales us with story about the league’s etiquette rules over cookies and lemonade, then convinces my younger daughter to become a catcher.  

The girls and I head back to the Otesaga – my husband says he’ll join us in a few hours - and we wander around the lake. When my Sox-loving spouse finally shows up, he says he needs a good old American dinner, so we head to the Hawkeye Grill in the hotel for steaks and baked potatoes. Our children fall asleep in the chocolate pudding. It’s been an amazing day in Cooperstown.

The next day dawns fair, and after a huge brunch in the Otesaga’s main dining room, we head out to the Leatherstocking golf course, the girls and I wearing matching golf outfits, much to the delight of the many parents who are there to watch their teenagers play in a juniors regional tournament. The course is challenging but fun, and the scenery is knock-out:  much of the course surrounds the lake, and the amazing 18th hole has us tee off from an island tee right in Otsego’s center.  Water’s not my thing, at least when it comes to golf, so even my younger daughter beats me.  

That’s OK – as long as I can head back to Danny’s for another homemade sandwich and a couple of those cupcakes.


The Otesaga Resort Hotel:  
60 Lake Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326
800-348-6222     www.Otesaga.com

The Farmer’s Museum:  
5798 Lake Road, Cooperstown, NY13326
607-547-1400     www.farmersmuseum.org

The Fenimore Art Museum:    
5798 Lake Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326
607-547-1400     www.fenimoreartmuseum.org

Danny’s Main Street Market:    
92 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326  
607-547-4053 or 1044

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum:  
25 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326
1-888-HALL-OF-FAME     www.baseballhalloffame.org*

Leatherstocking Golf Course:
60 Lake Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326
800-348-6222     http://www.otesaga.com/LGC/CourseSpecs/index.shtml