In Cooperstown But Not at Bat

We went to Cooperstown in mid-October, well beyond baseball season.  On a previous trip to this town that looks like the town fathers insist on a  plants- and- flowers- surrounding- the- house when property changes hands, we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame and loved it although neither my husband or I are huge fans of America’s national pastime. On this visit, designed to meet friends from Hamilton, Ontario half-way (a shorter half for us than them), we went to some less obvious sights starting at the Saturday Farmer’s Market featuring lots of squash,

several Amish farmers selling their wares and a typical outlay of cheeses, maple syrup, and late season lettuce.

Next up: The Fennimore Museum of Art, a gem. The current special exhibit: John Singer Sargent and His Portraits In Praise of Women,  follows the Goldilocks formula: not too big, not too small, just right. The paintings and a few sketches are set against salmon-colored walls inspired, according to the curator, whose gallery talk we stumbled into, by the pinkish dash in the left of the portrait of Mrs. Abbott Lawrence Rocht:

This exhibit  runs through December. In addition, the museum has a highly regarded Native American collection, a folk art exhibition  and a cute cafe with a small but well thought-through menu and a patio where one can eat or sip coffee and admire Lake Otsego.
We had two terrific dinners at The Rose & Kettle in Cherry Valley, NY, a tiny town about a fifteen minute drive from Cooperstown. Chef Matthew Begley pulls off a fabulous crab cake with sauteed spinach and lemon caper aioli and a rosemary flatbread with caramelized onions appetizer as well as a great stuffed pork loin and other delights. You might not want to drive to Cherry Valley for dinner but if you’re in Cooperstown, you could do a lot worse.