Immerse yourself in the history and present of America’s favorite pastime in the museums and outdoor spaces of Cooperstown, New York.
According to local legend, baseball was invented in a Cooperstown, New York, cow pasture by Abner Doubleday in 1839. Cooperstown is certainly the spiritual homeland of baseball, especially since it is home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Bring baseball fans young and old to see this testament to the Great American Pastime. For more baseball, visit the Heroes of Baseball Wax Museum. Pose for pictures with contemporary and historic legends of the sport. In the summer, Doubleday Field, named for the game’s inventor, hosts baseball tournaments as well as concerts and performances.
Lovers of culture will find much to appreciate, too. Attend the Glimmerglass Festival during the summer. The festival’s world-renowned opera company performs in the stunning April Busch Opera Theater, a beautiful modern American opera house. Enjoy the pastoral setting, especially pretty surrounded by fall foliage.
Explore the Fenimore Art Museum, whose American and Native American art collections will broaden and contextualize your knowledge of the great artists that have shaped the country’s history. Walk on the grounds alongside the glittering Otsego Lake. The Farmers’ Museum, a living museum recreating the life of a 19th-century farming village, was opened in 1944 on farmland formerly owned by James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans. Workshops, lectures, films and interactive exhibits provide fun and educational activities for young and old.
Walk or drive around the village to view the beautiful and varied architecture, largely constructed by the Clark family, which invested in the village and still lives here today. Their many family homes, as well as those of other prominent families, span diverse architectural ages.
Cooperstown is a 90-minute drive from Albany, which has an international airport as well as rail service. Though you’ll need a car to get here, park it and pay a day use fee to ride the local trolley.
Whether baseball is your passion or not, find many things to do in the idyllic Catskills destination of Cooperstown.