Cooperstown – Learn To Be Wise

Fun for children but little antique farm equipment

It was a fun stop, our late afternoon visit to the Cooperstown Farmers’ Museum. To us as adults looking at what had been collected and what was on display, “Farmers’ Museum” seemed like a misnomer. But they did have many animals for the children to see – goats, chickens, turkeys, cattle, sheep, and probably pigs that we didn’t see. It would have been a really fun stop for kids also has they have a splendid working carousel, and some tents set up for children to explore games of that era, to get their pictures dressed up in old fashioned clothes, and even a simulated milk-the-cow station. What was missing that we expected from the title was antique farm equipment. Aside from a couple carriages near the entrance we didn’t see any.

A good cross section of 1830’s village life

I think the intent was to help a visitor understand the nature of village life around the time that baseball was invented back in the 1830’s. And the buildings mostly seemed consistent with that goal. There was a very active blacksmith shop with two blacksmiths, a print shop, an apothecary, a doctor’s office complete with some of the pre-civil war crude tools used, a tavern, of course, and a very old one-room schoolhouse. The people who were dressed up in period costumes had obviously studied and become somewhat knowledgeable about their areas too. The old church was of very early design with divisions in the pews and balconies on both sides. The doors on either side of the pulpit seemed unusual and made me wonder if the building had been reversed and added onto in its history since the history said it had been used by more than one group. Were the two doors originally male and female entrances as some of the very earliest colonial churches had? JoAnne and Jane Kinney enjoyed watching the weavers who were busy at work in two different old houses. Another farmhouse had a working stone fireplace. Earlier in the day in a room made for that purpose, they had been making butter. There were cottage gardens and herb gardens too.

Recommended

We found it very interesting and worthwhile, a recommended stop.

Cooperstown visit

I’m supposed to be on vacation this week, but as is often the case, I’m having difficulty making a clean break. Worked today and yesterday, but Tuesday we took off for Cooperstown. I have always wanted to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown is a delightful old lakeside village with much in common with CNY and Fingerlakes gems like Cazenovia, Penn Yan, Watkins Glen, Hammondsport, Skaneateles and Geneva—classic architecture, restored houses, not too wide streets, quaint shops, flower beds and boxes, and places that just make you wonder what stories they could tell if they could only speak. It is also blessed with more places to eat – including good ice cream—than most towns its size.

Two sections

The Hall of Fame has two sections, the Hall of Fame itself with a formal plaque for each one recognized; and the museum part where the clothes, bats, lockers, etc. of all the inductees are displayed and where stories of famous players are told via posters, videos, print and displays. Of course everyone was drawn to the story of one of the most famous players of all time, Babe Ruth; but I found myself fascinated by a side story. The museum had a display that focused on the black leagues or “colored leagues” as they would have been called. I viewed that story and then took special note of early black players who were instrumental in breaking the color barrier in baseball; men like Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. Their courage, patience, character and humility, were just as essential to their success as was the overwhelming athletic talent that propelled them to baseball greatness.

Another interesting section was the comparative stats area; it answered questions like who has the most hits; the best batting average, the most hits in a row, the most strikeouts, the most home runs, etc. I also enjoyed the room that told the story of the Cooperstown museum itself and also the movie theatre baseball theme presentation. Outside the building was a hand kept major league standings scoreboard up-to-date for that day. Baseball souvenir stores are abundant – a ball autographed by Hank Aaron – about $350 – I didn’t buy it.

I highly recommend it!

It took me about 3 hours to go through the Museum and Hall of Fame and I could have spent longer. I highly recommend it to any baseball fan.

I wore my Syracuse Chief’s hat and one person even noticed and mentioned that they had recently seen the Chiefs. Unfortunately, I haven’t been to a game yet this year but hope to attend soon. However, I follow them on the internet several times weekly to keep abreast of their season.

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