Cooperstown

Cooperstown, village in Otsego and Middlefield towns (townships), seat (1791) of Otsego county, central New York, U.S. Cooperstown is situated at the southern tip of Otsego Lake, where the Susquehanna River emerges, 38 miles (61 km) southeast of Utica. The site was settled in the late 1780s by Judge William Cooper; the village (incorporated 1807) stands as a monument to the Cooper family. The judge’s son, James Fenimore Cooper—author of the “Leatherstocking” tales, including The Deerslayer (1841)—is buried in the cemetery of Christ Episcopal Church. A statue of the author stands on the site of Otsego Hall, the Cooper family home, where he spent his final years (1834–51). Cooperstown is also the legendary birthplace of baseball; American military officer Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game there in 1839 (a story that was later discredited). The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Cooperstown, has baseball memorabilia and a gallery of bronze plaques honouring the players inducted into the organization.

Now a summer resort, the village also has some light industry. Of historical interest are the Farmers’ Museum and Village Crossroads (an outdoor museum with historic buildings representing a mid-19th-century hamlet) and the Fenimore House Museum (containing collections of American folk and fine art, Native American art, and Cooper memorabilia). Pop. (2000) 2,032; (2010) 1,852.