Cooper’s Legacy in Land and Lore

By: Kate Betz, Manager of Public Programs

While Cooperstown’s geography hasn’t physically changed due to the influence of any of its citizens, the history and lore surrounding the town has been profoundly affected by one man: James Fenimore Cooper. Locations throughout Cooperstown and around Otsego Lake still bear the influence—both in name and description—of Cooper’s fictional vision of the area as seen in his five Leatherstocking novels.

This early stereoscopic view shows the site that inspired Natty Bumppo’s cave in Cooper’s The Pioneers. To call the location a “cave” is in fact a misnomer. It is actually merely a natural chasm with no interior section. However, it has become forever associated with James Fenimore Cooper and continues to delight hikers who stumble upon it to this day.

Cooper’s names and influence stretch well beyond geographic features. Not only Natty Bumppo, but Pathfinder, Deerslayer, Leatherstocking, and others have found a permanent home in Cooperstown’s street signs, lake-cruising boats, trolleys and institutions.

Cooper’s stories have also been the inspiration for countless artists since the nineteenth century. To learn more about his influence on 19th-century painters, visit the Fenimore Art Museum on April 4th for our Hidden Treasures event.

Top: Bumppo's Cave, ca. 1870. Robert Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views, Photography Collection, Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints & Photographs, The New York Public Library.

Bottom: Natty Bumppo II, Otsego Lake, ca. 1865. Smith and Telfer Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY.

Cooperstown Pursuit #3

by: Kate Betz, Manager of Public Programs
Due to political infighting, the village that we all know as Cooperstown almost wasn’t. In 1807, two rival factions headed by Elihu Phinney (the publisher of the Otsego Herald, Cooperstown’s first newspaper) and William Cooper proposed bills to incorporate the village and begin municipal services under two different names. Cooper favored the name Cooperstown (for obvious reasons), while Phinney favored Otsego. Phinney won in the state legislature because his party, the Republicans, had temporarily gained control. Cooper dominated village politics, however, and ensured that village trustees refused to enact any policies or begin any municipal services until the “mistake” in naming was corrected. The correction was five years in the making. In 1812, the village was reincorporated as Cooperstown. Never one to admit defeat, Phinney labeled the village Otsego until his death in 1813, more than a year after reincorporation.

Cooperstown Pursuit #2

By: Kate Betz, Manager of Public Programs

The story of William and Elizabeth Cooper’s arrival in Cooperstown has been the subject of many exaggerations and complications throughout the town’s history. In fact, so much has been made of their arrival that it was even thought to be a worthy subject of “Ripley’s-Believe it or Not.” Mrs. Cooper is, in their cartoon, the first person to stage a “sit-down strike” to avoid moving from her more comfortable home in New Jersey. (click to enlarge cartoon)
Though a good story, the cartoon lacks historical evidence. When William Cooper brought his wife Elizabeth to his settlement on the banks of Otsego Lake, the couple did indeed travel over rough terrain and uneven roads, even completing their journey by canoe. Elizabeth hated the journey so much that she refused to leave the town until a new road was cut. (No word on whether she was sitting down while delivering this refusal to her husband.) She did not have to wait for long to be able to travel on improved roads. By the turn of the nineteenth century, residents dramatically improved the rough road when “a good Turnpike Road westward from Cooperstown to the Chenango River” was completed, and a stage coach route between Cooperstown and Canajoharie provided travelers with frequent and reliable opportunities for travel outside of the quickly expanding town.

Cartoon: 20th century, Vertical File, NYSHA Research Library.