June 3, Cooperstown

The Catskill Mountains pretty nearly killed us.  It was a very hard day and our seldom used small chain rings got a real workout.  As soon as we left our motel we started to climb and climbed for 15 miles before we got a real break.  Our next 3 miles were a wonderful downhill ride with the first mile being marked for trucks as very steep.  However, those glorious 3 miles don’t make up for the 15 miles of climbs.  We had other nice downhill rides but paid dearly for them with all the up hills we suffered thru; two were 12% grades.  As if the hills weren’t bad enough, we had a headwind for the last half of our ride. We will quit whining with WE ARE EXHAUSTED.

Cooperstown, drew its name from the family of James Fenimore Cooper – whose father, William, founded the village – whose works of literature have become American standards.  Our first stop was Otsego Lake. The lake is the headwaters of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River and takes its name from the Iroquois Indians, who inhabited the area around the lake in and before the 17th century.

While the lake was our primary interest, Cooperstown is known for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Abner Doubleday – a decorated Union Army officer who fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil War and later served at the Battle of Gettysburg – invented baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown.

Just north of the town is The Farmers' Museum.  Its land has been part of a working farm since 1813, when it was owned by James Fenimore Cooper. Judge Samuel Nelson, whose office is part of The Farmers’ Museum Village, bought the farm in 1829 and raised sheep.

Pictures

Map - 64.4 miles

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