NOW is the time to make your bucket list of top destinations to experience and make your travel plans for the future. Let Cooperstown and Otsego County deliver a homerun for you and your family's next vacation!
The Farmer's Museum (2+ hours) Seasonal: April - October
Start your trip to Cooperstown with a bit of educational fun at the Farmers' Museum, one of the only rural life museums in the country. Here, families experience 1800s rural and village life firsthand, through daily demonstrations and interpretive exhibits. With a historic stone barn listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum features a working farmstead and recreates the historic village. Other museum highlights include the hand-carved Empire State Carousel and Cardiff Giant, considered "America's Greatest Hoax."
Fenimore Art Museum (2+ hours) Seasonal: April - December
Located on the shores of Otsego Lake, this gorgeous structure houses a unique, permanent collection and seasonal exhibits perfect for those just starting to get a taste for “the arts” and dilettantes alike. With a sophisticated layout and Art Carts available for children to experience what they are seeing, everyone enjoys their time at this museum. The Fenimore Café and Shop complete the visit with the best ways to relax before your next stop with a bite to eat out on the terrace with a heavenly panoramic view then finish with your visit with some retail therapy.
Glimmerglass Festival - July & August each year
The Glimmerglass Festival’s summer-long celebration of the arts features a full schedule of performances, events and discussions to round out your visit, whether you’re here for the day, weekend or summer. The Festival is truly a one-of-a-kind summer destination. Join us, and see for yourself why there’s no place quite like Glimmerglass.
Cooperstown Bat Company (1+ hours) Year-round
Get into the baseball swing with a visit to Cooperstown Bat Company. Specializing in game bats for juniors up to major league pros, Cooperstown Bat Company offers custom bats with personalized engravings, as well as autographed bats and other collectibles. Crafted from the finest Maple, Ash, and Birch woods found in New York State, Cooperstown Bat products are processed from 'forest to field' to ensure quality. In addition to the Main Street store, the Cooperstown Bat Company's Factory in Hartwick features FREE bat turning demonstrations.
Fly Creek Cider Mill & Orchard (1 - 2 hours) Year-round
Step back in time and watch the workings of the 160-year old Fly Creek Cider Mill press fresh, sweet cider during the autumn peak harvest season. In this self-guided tour, available year-round (with videos when the press isn't running), families learn about the Mill's cider production and history that includes Johnny Appleseed! Be sure to check out the Mill Store Marketplace offering generous tastings of local products or visit the Snack Barn for its famous pulled pork and pot roast sandwiches, baked goods, and other treats. Don’t forget to feed our feathered friends at the Duck Pond!
National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum (2+ hours) Year-round
More than just a game, baseball is a family experience that connects generations. Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to celebrate the American tradition that holds a special place in the hearts and minds of fans of all ages. Highlighting baseball's history, the museum also explores legends of the field, diversity in the game and highlights top records, as well as baseball art and photography. No visit is complete without a visit to the Plaque Gallery, the sacred ground for baseball fans where Hall of Famers are revered for their contributions to the sport.
Brewery Ommegang (1+ hours) Year-round
...serving up award-winning Belgian-style beers and food in its café and outdoor patio, try the smoked fish dip paired with a classic Witte beer. Then, tour the facility that opened in 1997 as the first farmstead brewery established in the USA in more than 100 years to sample a selection of their rotating craft brews and limited-edition pours. Summer concerts also take place in the perfect, natural amphitheater that makes us the grounds on which Ommegang stands.
Hyde Hall (1+ hours) Seasonal: Memorial Day Weekend - October 31 each year
A National Historic Landmark, Hyde Hall sits within the grounds of Glimmerglass State Park and is considered the finest example of a neoclassic, country mansion. Take one of the daily tours in season, and bring your picnic lunch to enjoy on the lawn overlooking the unspoiled view of Otsego Lake that inspired Georg Clarke nearly two hundred years ago to choose this site. Check the calendar for Special Events and ask about private event opportunities.
Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad (3+ hours) Seasonal and Event-based
Learn about the history of rail riding through the variety of exhibits on display in the restored Milford Depot originally built in 1869. Then experience a means of travel from a far-off time aboard the vintage rail cars on a Thursday, Scenic Train Ride. Special Event Trains roll on each year, too, so be sure to check out the current schedule.
Clark Sports Center (2 - 4 hours) Year-round
Plan a family workout at the Clark Sports Center. This all-encompassing sports facility features a multi-use gym floor, indoor running track, racquetball and squash courts, bowling center, and swimming and diving pools. In the Fitness Center, families can utilize weight and cardio equipment, take an aerobics or yoga class, or try out the climbing wall. Outdoors, high ropes and zip-line courses, soccer and softball fields, along with tennis courts offer plenty of options for getting active.
Leatherstocking Trolley (1.5 hours) Seasonal: Late May - Mid October
The best way to get the lay of the Cooperstown land is to sit back and relax on a 75-minute, narrated Historic Trolley Tour. Listen and learn about the 200+ year history about some of Cooperstown’s prominent people and an industry pioneered by the hop crops that grew aboundingly here. This would also be the most entertaining way to experience the Cooperstown Beverage Trail with a group of your best pals. Make your advanced reservations now!
Pail Shop Vineyards, Winery & Tasting Room (1.5 hours) Seasonal
Heaven is just over the hill from Main Street Cooperstown. Pail Shop Vineyards, Winery and Tasting Room makes small production wines in a converted barn looking out over the hills of beautiful Fly Creek Valley. We crush, press, ferment and age our wines on site, sourcing grapes from the best growing regions throughout New York. Don’t miss the summertime Sangria at Sunset and other events and receptions.
Where It All Began - Bat Company (½+ hour) Year-round
Baseball Wood Bat Specialists for play or display. We offer quick professional engraving/personalization and USPS Priority shipping to make sure your items look amazing and arrive quickly. If you are visiting our store we typically have your engraved items ready for pickup in an hour or less. If you’re interested in seeing how a bat is actually made, visit the Cooperstown Bat Company Factory (only 15-minutes away) for a FREE demonstration.
Cooperstown Beverage Trail We recommend consulting each business before visiting, as many of them operate seasonally and have varying hours of operation.
Featuring eight partners including breweries, wineries, a distillery, and a historic cider mill, all producing distinctive, high-quality craft beverages. Hit this 37-mile trail, the first official cuisine trail in New York State, for a selection of tastings, tours, farm-to-table dining, and events that celebrate the region's craft beverage resurgence.
Cooperstown Distillery (1+ hours) Year-round
The area's first micro-distillery, Cooperstown Distillery, offers award-winning, artisanal spirits. Using locally-sourced ingredients in its bourbon, whiskey, and other hand-crafted liquors, this farm distillery offers a 'field to flask' experience with a distiller-led tour finished with a tasting and they offer tasting counters at both the distillery (11 Railroad Ave.) and at their second location, Cooperstown Beverage Exchange (73 Main Street). 2020 marks the year finalizing an expansion, so don’t miss out!
Cooperstown Farmers' Market (1 hour) Year-round check schedule
Make one stop at the market to find everything you need to enjoy our diverse local bounty. Thirty growers, producers, and artisans, all located within 50 miles, provide your weekly staples including fresh seasonal produce, pasture raised meats, handmade breads, artisan cheeses, grass-fed milk and free range eggs. Round out your shopping list with honey, flowers, wine, maple syrup, sweet treats, artisan crafts and more!
Templeton Hall (1 hour) Year-round
Templeton Hall is a banquet and catering facility located in the center of enchanting Cooperstown. Full service at Templeton includes dining space for up to 120 guests with food and beverage services by L. M. Townsend Catering. Templeton Hall itself is an historic building constructed in 1832, having served during its long history as a church, community center, ladies’ dress shop and antiques store. Templeton Hall’s convenient location is around the corner from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, within walking distance of most lodging, convenient to the trolley stop, and is handicapped accessible.
Canoe and Kayak Rentals (3 locations) Seasonal: May - September
Start your next adventure on the water with us! When you visit our shop, you’ll find that happiness and joy are contagious. Our goal is to share this invigorating sport with you. It is especially satisfying for us to help beginners discover the fun and freedom of being on the water in a canoe, kayak or stand up paddleboard. Find us at one of our three locations!
Bobby Sharp Glassworks (1 hour)Year-round with different hours
Using internationally-sourced materials of the highest quality, Sharp creates his works locally—and occasionally offers workshop packages for others to find their own inner artist through the beautiful power of glassblowing. His works of art can be seen at his studio (call for hours) and the Cooperstown Bat Company exclusively sells his twist on how a baseball bat should be made.
The Art Garage - (1 hour) Seasonal: Memorial Day - Columbus Day and by appointment only in the off-season.
If you are seeking an organic experience with The Arts, this is the perfect stop! Sydney provides top-notch, seasonal, temporary contemporary exhibitions and arts programs and for FREE! Also permanently represented are the estates of highly original “folk” artists, Alice Hudson and Lavern Kelley, whose works are in various museum collections. Contemporary art gallery, only one mile from Cooperstown.
Barnyard Swing Mini Golf & Family Fun Center (1+ hours) Seasonal
For a plethora of fantastically-fun things to do with your loved ones - all at one stop, THIS is the place to be! After a round of Miniature Golf and Wild West Laser Tag, try putting on your creative caps and painting ceramic figurines or creating jewelry and more together. When you’ve had enough, wind down with a Sassy Cow Ice Cream.
NY Goat Yoga at Gilbertsville Farmhouse - Seasonal Classes
Try something new and possibly, out of your normal comfort zone...yoga with goats! Part of a growing trend, goat yoga is considered a therapeutic and fun exercise. This is something you and your friends and family need to try. Classes often have a theme and are great for people of any age.
Hard Ball Cafe - Seasonal: Memorial Day - Labor Day
Cooperstown’s only outdoor sports bar and restaurant. Serving traditional American baseball cuisine with enough variety to please even the pickiest of palates. We like to keep our menu fresh so we change it up each year.
Kingfisher Lavender (1 hour) Event-based
Visit one of the most unique agricultural attractions in the region during advertised events only. Kingfisher Lavender is a small artisan farm growing a variety of lavender plants. From June through August, the fields are awash in purple hues and full of fragrance as lavender blooms. In addition to producing lavender flower water (hydrosol) and oils, the farm sells fresh flower bunches in season, as well as dried lavender bunches, flower buds, body butter, sachets, and gardening items throughout the year. Visit the website for the most recent updates about when to visit.
Please keep in mind the travel time between the places you choose to visit. Try out our mapping tool to help with the logistics.
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