Lakeside leisure Best known as home of baseball’s shrine of heroes, Cooperstown offers many other attractions for visitors.
Historic lakeside village offers array of nifty attractions
Cooperstown, located at the south end of Otsego Lake, is legendary for being a baseball village, housing the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. In addition to many baseball-centric businesses, attractions include a well-known brewery, excellent bakeries, art and history museums and a range of restaurants, offering non-baseball fans plenty of reasons to visit.
Checking into the Inn at Cooperstown (16 Chestnut St.)
The Inn at Cooperstown, a pedigreed historical landmark, offers 18 guest rooms, some small and functional, others large and luxurious. The decor and furnishing have an old, classic feel. It was designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, whose other projects include the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The inn has collaborated in creating value packages with top local businesses, including Brewery Ommegang and the Baseball Hall of Fame. The inn offers breakfast to go with fresh coffee, muffins (go for the lemon poppyseed if it’s available), yogurt and fresh fruit.
Things to do Fenimore Art Museum
(5798 NY-80)
Set to reopen in April, the Fenimore Art Museum on Otsego Lake is the former home of author James Fenimore Cooper. It has a substantial collection of American folk art, photography from the 19th century, the renowned Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, and Cooper family artifacts, according to the museum’s website. It also hosts visiting exhibits.
The Covered Bridge
(1527 County Road 31)
I've grown to love the look and the stories behind New England's covered bridges. The Hyde Hall Covered Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in New York. According to the Hyde Hall website, back in the day bridges were often made from wood because it wasn’t too expensive and there was a lot of it, but as we know, wood can erode quite fast. To slow this process down, they began to cover the bridges. This particular one is in Glimmerglass State Park.
Explore the Main Strip
Main Street is where the action is: the Wax Museum (99 Main St.) and the Baseball Hall of Fame (25 Main St.), and some shops here and there. I have to admit, the shops are way more intriguing if you are actually a sports fan, particularly baseball. Many are focused around the sport itself with sports trading card stores, collectible shops, sports memorabilia stores, baseball goods stores, and more. To name a few local spots peppered throughout that area, you can check out Riverwood (88 Main St.) where they sell items like gifts, handbags, accessories, and more and Schneider's Bakery (157 Main St.) to grab a big cream puff or maybe some fun cut out cookies.
Where to eat and drink
Bocca Osteria (5438 NY-28)
I knew this place would be good because of the reviews and the pictures I saw ahead of time, but wow. I left here extremely impressed by everything from the service to the dessert. I started by ordering the Bellini with a sweet apricot purée and bubbly prosecco. From there, we decided on the Ommegangmarinated flank steak on crispy garlic toast with herb cream cheese and red pepper aïoli as well as the calamari, citrusy with notes of orange, and a bit of spice from the cherry peppers. For mains, we had the surf and turf special with shrimp and the fresh house-made fettuccine in a cheesy white truffle mushroom cream sauce with perfectly cooked steak. The chocolate tort was delicious, but the real star was the blueberry ravioli. I expected fried raviolis, but what came out were tiny puff pastry rounds stuffed with a little bit of white chocolate and blueberries with a serving of fresh vanilla gelato to scoop into each bite.
(656
Ommegang Brewery
County Hwy 33)
After years of grabbing Ommegang brews at the grocery store to drink and cook with, it was cool to see the actual brewery in person. There’s plenty of room inside to space out at the bar and the dining area. We just wanted a snack and to try a few beers, so we grabbed two seats at the bar. We went with a flight. I love a good sour so the Rosetta, which is an aged cherry sour ale, and the Belgian ale with apricots and peaches, the Apripêche, caught my attention right away. We also tried the Rare Vos made with coriander and orange peel and the Bourbon Barrel Adoration which is a Belgian style ale aged in bourbon barrels giving it a little of that flavor. We soaked it all up with a big soft pretzel, served with a creamy cheese sauce and acidic caraway mustard.