Last month, my family and I attended my brother’s beautiful wedding in Sharon Springs.  After we left the festivities, we needed to go on to another special event that weekend, my stepson Eric’s graduation from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

We knew that it might be a bit late by the time the wedding reception ended so we decided to drive the thirty miles towards Ithaca and accept an invitation to stay over at the  Bayside Inn & Marina in Cooperstown, New York.

Located on Otsego Lake and about 7 miles from the heart of Cooperstown, we found the rooms to be a nice size and clean, and the front desk very friendly.

Although we didn’t have the time, we were also told that there were canoes and kayaks available to use on the lake as well as a swimming beach.

 

Cooperstown is famous for being the birthplace of baseball and the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It is also well known for its Fenimore Art Museum, Farmers Museum,Hyde Hall and Cooperstown Dreams Park.

We would have loved to have visited those attractions, but we needed to be on the road to Ithaca before any of them opened up. So after eating an early breakfast at the very cozy Cooperstown Diner,  we took a walk around the community and found that there is even more to experience there.

First we walked a short distance to the public access to Otsego Lake.

There we found various reminders of a land that inspired James Fenimore Cooper  to write literary masterpieces such as “The Last of the Mohicans.”

We kept walking through that area and discovered that this is where Otsego Lake becomes  the very beginning of the Susquehanna River, the largest river in the Northeast and the 16th largest river in the United States.

We then passed many beautiful homes while walking back to the main streets of the town.

We ended our little expedition at that Saturday’s Farmers’ Market where we bought delicious flapjacks and vegetables for the trip.

Cooperstown is a little more than an hour and a half away from the Albany, New York area. We intend to come back later this summer but we already had a great time.

Our thanks to Deb Taylor, Tourism Director of the Cooperstown/Otesgo County Tourism Program, for all of her advice and help.