Cooperstown, New York & Glimmerglass State Park

Short video about Cooperstown and Glimmerglass State Park

Cooperstown is best known as the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The Farmers' Museum opened in 1944 on farmland that had once belonged to James Fenimore Cooper. The Fenimore Art Museum and Glimmerglass Opera are also based here. Most of the historic pre-1900s core of the village is included in the Cooperstown Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980; its boundaries were increased in 1997 and more contributing properties were identified.

Otsego Lake is a 4,046-acre (16.37 km2) lake located in Otsego County in the U.S. state of New York. It is the source of the Susquehanna River and largest lake in Otsego County.[1][2] The Village of Cooperstown is located at the lake's southern end. Glimmerglass State Park is located on the lake's northeastern shore, and includes Hyde Hall, a large mansion constructed in 1817, that overlooks the lake. The Glimmerglass Opera, opened in June 1987, is located on the western shore.

Glimmerglass State Park is located at Hyde Bay on the east shore of Otsego Lake, which is the "Glimmerglass" lake of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales. The Hyde Hall mansion overlooks the bay and most of the grounds.[1]

The park offers a beach, picnic tables with pavilions, a playground, recreation programs, a nature trail, hiking and biking, fishing and ice fishing, a campground with tent and trailer sites, ice skating, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling and a food concession. The park is open year-round.

Hyde Hall is a neoclassical country mansion designed by architect Philip Hooker for George Clarke (1768–1835), a wealthy landowner. The house was constructed between 1817 and 1834, and designed with English and American architectural features. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986 for its architecture, and the completeness of its architectural documentary record. It is one of the few surviving works of Philip Hooker, a leading 19th-century American architect.