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Central – Leatherstocking
Once considered to be America’s western frontier, the Central – Leatherstocking region now ranks in the forefront of world-encompassing sports and Native American memorials. The area is famed for hidden caverns such as Howe Caverns, with its massive stone formations and stunning underground lake.
COOPERSTOWN: For more than 50 years the name Cooperstown has been synonymous with baseball. Home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Doubleday Field and numerous trading card and memorabilia shops, this vibrant village on the shore of Otesgo Lake contains some popular museums. The Farmers’ Museum and Village Crossroads graphically recreates life in the 1880s. Costumed guides work at looms, on the printing press and make brooms on the farm. Meanwhile, ox-carts carry visitors through the complex of buildings. Across the road, two golf courses are laid out along the lake by Fenimore House, headquarters of the New York Historical Association. Each summer, Gallery 53 Artworks mounts a show of ‘baseball as art’ with paintings, sculpture, wood and metal works defining the athleticism and agility of players as well as historic moments and places associated with the game. The Glimmerglass Opera stages productions at the Alice Busch Opera Theater throughout July and August.
ONEONTA: A few miles from Cooperstown, the city of Oneonta is home to the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Soccer tournaments are held at the Wright Soccer Campus, the State University facility and the fields of Harwick College. The college’s Yager Hall displays changing exhibitions in addition to artefacts, pottery and baskets from the local Susquehanna River Valley archaeological digs.
HOWES CAVE & AREA: In the heart of the Leatherstocking region at the town of Howes Cave are the famous Howe Caverns. Visitors to the ten-million-year-old caves, which feature magnificent limestone formations, travel 48m (156 feet) under the earth. Tours of the caverns include a boat ride on the underground Lake of Venus. Other attractions in the area include the Iroquois Indian Museum, which has exhibits of Native American arts, history and archeology and includes a Children’s Museum and Nature Park, and the living museum at the 1743 Palatine House at Schoharie. The Howe Caverns Animal Farm is a favourite with children.
ONEIDA INDIAN NATION: Just off the NY State Thruway (1-90) at exit 3, the Oneida Indian Nation operates a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week gaming facility, the only casino in the State. Four elegant restaurants, no-smoking black-jack areas and slotless games are among the amenities on offer. Vernon Downs, a nearby harness (standardbred) racing facility, features a new hotel on its grounds. Traditions with a Future examines the heritage, artefacts and culture of the nation at its white pine log Shakowi Cultural Center.
At exit 34 stands the International Boxing Hall of Fame, a storehouse of gloves, robes and other mementos of pugilists from around the world. Each year in early June, new members are initiated into the hall with a weekend of ceremonies, exhibition bouts and public meetings. The Canal Museum depicts how this impressive cross-state waterway was constructed. A side trip to the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum shows where packet boats were dry-docked for repair and upkeep.
ROME: The Erie Canal Village in Rome is where construction of the canal actually began, one group of workers heading east, the other west. Some 20 buildings were moved here to create a replica of a canal-side town, complete with church and tavern. On a section of the 1825 waterway, visitors can ride on a packet boat pulled by mules. Travellers can also rent their own packet boats at Troy and Skaneateles for self-steered trips on the canal. Several communities on the route provide tour-boat trips on the enlarged, turn-of-the-century canal. Outside Rome is Delta Lake, a new 2000m (6500ft) rowing course.
SPECIAL EVENTS: Mar 2003 Sugaring Off, (traditional maple-sugaring activities), Cooperstown. Jul Waterways Festival, Frankfort. Jul-Aug Honor America Days Celebration, Rome. Aug Canal Fest, Sylvan Beach; 55th Annual New York State Woodsmen’s Field Days, Boonville. Sep Remsen Barn Festival, (Welsh village festival), Remsen. Oct Columbus Day Parade, Rome.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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