EDITORIAL Otsego County, Reclaim Natty Bumppo As Own Editor’s Note: This editorial, from May 6, 2016, is timely again today, after the news that the Pomeroy Foundation has awarded a “Legends & Lore” historical marker to both Fly Creek, home of David Shipman, and Hoosick Falls, home of Nathaniel Shipman. Alan Taylor, the eminent historian and author of the Pulitzer-winning “William Cooper’s Town” is emphatic in his conclusion: David Shipman was James Fenimore Cooper’s inspiration for the famed Natty Bumppo.…
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NEW CHAPTER IN HISTORICAL FEUD Both Bumppo Claims Equal, Power Foundation Declares By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com FLY CREEK – Wuz we robbed? The Pomeroy Foundation has, finally, approved a “Legend & Lore” marker for the grave of David Shipman, whom James Fenimore Cooper himself identified as the model for Natty Bumppo, who ranks with Huck Finn among the foremost protagonists in American literature. At the same time, though, Pomeroy also approved a “Legend & Lore” marker for…
Editorial First Cooperstown Village Election Was A Wild One Editor’s Note: The uncertainly surrounding this year’s village elections locally and throughout New York State, now scheduled six months late on Sept. 15, brought to mind the tumult surrounding Cooperstown’s first village elections, recounted in Alan Taylor’s “William Cooper’s Town,” which won a 1996 Pulitzer Prize. The (state) Legislature (in 1807) was considering two rival petitions to incorporate the village at the foot of Lake Otsego. Incorporation would provide Cooperstown with…
HAPPENIN’ OTSEGO for SATURDAY, FEB. 11 Performance of ‘Love Letters’ THEATER – 2 p.m. Performance of ‘Love Letters,’ by A.R. Gurney, which tells the story of Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner via the letters they exchanged over their lifetime. The Production Center of the Foothills Performing Arts Center, 124 Market St., Oneonta. Info, (607) 432-5407 or GEStevens17@gmail.com QUILT SHOW – 11 a.m.-4 p.m.. Thru Sunday Feb. 26. Cooperstown Art Association, 22 Main St., Cooperstown. Info, www.cooperstownart.com PLAY READING – 6:30…