BONFIRE AT 7 TONIGHT

Copes Corner Park Opening

Celebrated With Spring Fest

By LIBBY CUDMORE • for www.AllOTSEGO.com

COPES CORNERS – In the 1940s, there were only two rules for visitors to Copes Corners.

“My grandfather, Walker R.R. Cope, told people that they were always welcome on his land, as long as they closed the gate so the cows didn’t get out,” said Fred Johnson. “The other rule was watch where you step!”

The cows are long gone, but Copes Corners will once again be open for camping, fishing and picnics, just as it has been – except for the past few years – since before the Civil War.

“The last time we were really open for camping was 2011,” said Michele Farwell, a member of the Copes Corners Park Committee. “And during our Spring Fest, our camping is almost free!”

That will change this evening through Sunday, when the park committee has organized three-day “grand reopening celebration” as it bring the Copes Corner Park, mile south of the Village of Gilbertsville on Route 51, back into full use.

The park was known as “the swimming hole” in the early days. “The schoolhouse was around the road and there was a tollhouse across the road, so people would stop, have picnics or go fishing,” said Leigh Eckmair, Butternuts town historian. “The Baptists would hold their baptisms here.”

There was even a party boat that took tourists up and down the Butternut Creek, complete with a fringed canopy. “It ran from just after the Revolutionary War right up to the First World War,” she said.

The Copes, former missionaries who had just come back from Madagascar, bought the land in the 1850s, and although they used it for grazing cattle, visitors were always welcome to cool off, catch some fish or pitch a tent for an overnight stay.

“Larry Smith was telling me that in the 1950s, the guys used to drive their cars into the creek to wash them,” said Farwell. “And when it got cold, kids would come ice skate.”

But in 1968, the Cope descendants, including Fred’s mother Emily, gave the park to the county. “They wanted to make sure future generations could always use the park,” said Eckmair. “At the time, A.B. Musson was on the county Board of Supervisors, so he helped support upgrading the park for RVs.”

The park, with three pavilions and bathroom facilities, remained popular until 2006, when the flood washed away several campers and caused significant damage. “We were closed for awhile while the county repaired the park,” said Farwell.

Reopened, park flooded again in 2011, and in 2012, the county sold the park back to the town for $1. The cleanup began, and although the park was always open, with no caretaker, the town limited campers to four at a time, and closed off the camps on the south side of the park.

“We’ve been working to get the grounds in better shape,” said Farwell. “We’ve cut spruce trees, redid signage and put in electrical upgrades. We’d host volunteer events, and 25, 30 people would show up. It was a good community effort.”

They even hired a full-time caretaker, George and Sylvie Githens, to take care of the grounds 24/7. “We like to think of ourselves as camp hosts,” said George.

And on May 6-8, the park will formally re-open with two days of music, food, a Chinese auction and a bonfire. “We want to remind people what we have here,” said Lynne Ohl, also a committee member.