The drama of life has been many times enacted amid the scenes of this village, and here is the prologue and epilogue of many a romance and tragedy.
Boys and girls are at play in the streets, and are skylarking along the shore of lake and river. Ambitious youngsters go out into the wider world to seek their fortunes. But there is always a homecoming. Youth has its day.
There are two aged men from different quarters of the village who daily resort in summer to the Cooper Grounds, and sit in the sunshine upon the same bench. Either is visibly uneasy until the other arrives. But together they are happy. On this spot where the history of the village began they take turns at being narrator and listener, while each relates to the other the story of his life, and describes his triumphs in days that are gone. They give no heed to passers-by, or to the traffic of neighboring streets. But a village church bell tolls, and they fall silent, lifting their heads to watch the funeral train as it passes the Cooper Grounds and winds slowly upward from the main street to the quiet garden by the lake, on the slope of the eastern hills.
[Footnote 128: George S. Dougherty, in _Chicago Saturday Blade_, January 8, 1916.]
[Illustration: VILLAGE MAP OF COOPERSTOWN]
Chief points of interest are indicated on the village map, in the order most convenient for a short tour, by letters from A to M.
A--Cooper Grounds. Site of Fenimore Cooper's residence.
B--Cooper's grave in Christ churchyard. Christ Church, erected 1807, in which he worshipped.
C--Fernleigh, the Clark residence, where Bishop Potter died.
D--Byberry Cottage, built for the daughters of Fenimore Cooper, 1852.
E--Pomeroy Place, "the old stone house," 1804.
F--Indian Mound, in the northeast corner of Fernleigh-Over.
I--Council Rock, mentioned in _The Deerslayer_ as the meeting-place of the Indians.
J--Mortar marking site of Clinton's Dam, during the Revolution, 1779.
O--Former residence of Justice Nelson, U.S. Supreme Court.
S--Church of St. Mary, Our Lady of the Lake.
U--Grounds upon which the first game of Base Ball was played.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Cooperstown, by Ralph Birdsall