Hoffman Lane

Hoffman Lane. Welcome to Cooperstown. , Nature's Splendor, "We've got to calling the place the 'Glimmerglass,' seeing that its whole basin is so often fringed with pines, cast upward from its face; as if it would throw back the hills that hang over it" - James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer, 1841 , Cooperstown is located at the base of Otsego Lake, the source of the Susquehanna River, which leads to the Chesapeake Bay. The lake, which novelist James Fenimore Cooper referred to as Glimmerglass, provides recreational offerings, scenic beauty, quality water, and a habitat for wildlife., Before European settlement, the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, came to Otsego Lake to fish. After the Revolutionary War, people of European descent arrived in search of land, believing the forests should become fields and meadows to support farming. By the early 1900s, residents increasingly turned their eyes to recreation, developing youth and family camps around the lake. , (photo captions:), ·Otsego Lake offers year-round recreation, from ice fishing in winter to swimming in summer. Lakeshore camps, such as the Dugway (now Pathfinder Lodge), seen here in September 1923, provide settings for families and youth experience the outdoors., ·Sledding on Otsego Lake, February 12, 1922, ·The steamship Mohican, named for the Native Americans who inspired novelist James Fenimore Cooper, once offered seasonal service for passengers and freight, as well as evening lake excursions and private parties, contributing to Cooperstown's reputation as a summer destination., ·Dockside at Otsego Lake