August 2004
Nestled into the soft rolling hills of Upstate New York about halfway between Albany and Binghamton lies the small town of Cooperstown. Settled in the late 18th century, Cooperstown was strategically located at the southern tip of Lake Otsego at the headwaters of the Susquehanna River, then a major thoroughfare of commerce.
This picture postcard town features a beautiful tree-lined main street, the Farmer’s Museum, the oldest outdoor living history museum showcasing rural life in the 19th century, and the Fenimore Art Museum. But Cooperstown also happens to be the epicenter of our national pastime, also known as baseball.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame calls Cooperstown home, and every year more than 300,000 people come to visit this shrine. I happen to be a huge baseball fan and I love coming up here to visit. Like a lot of guys my age, baseball was a large part of my youth and the memories unlocked while walking through the displays at the Hall of Fame are good ones.
What strikes me as I walk down Main Street is that except for the cars on the street, it could be 1966, or 1978 just as easily as 2004. No matter which restaurant you stop in to catch a bite to eat, you will find yourself surrounded by nostalgia of all types. No retro look-alike stainless steel diners here, these are the all original, real deals.
One place I had lunch in had its wall lined with autographed photos of TV and sports personalities spanning more than 30 years, intermixed with baseball and restaurant memorabilia dating back to the 1930s. It was like going back in time.
Youth baseball lives here as well. Cooperstown Dreams Park is the end product of one family’s vision to make big league baseball dreams available to kids between the ages of 10 and 12. Every year, for 11 weeks each summer, 64 teams per week from all over the United States and Canada come here to compete for a national title. This is a huge operation, attracting thirty to forty thousand people to this tiny town each summer.
Baseball is not the only sport to call Cooperstown home. The National Soccer Hall of Fame is located here as well. Once a summer retreat for the elite, Cooperstown also features a world-class Opera House. Named Glimmerglass Opera, it is located on the shores of Lake Otsego, and more than 40,000 patrons attend performances there during July and August.
Within a half-hour’s drive of Cooperstown is Howe Caverns, a 100 million-year-old underground rock formation carved out of the limestone hills of the Adirondacks by an underground river. Located 200 feet beneath the landscape, this natural wonder is accessible 12 months a year.
A half an hour in the other direction gets you to the Northeast Classic Car Museum, which features many rare and exotic cars like the Franklin and the Stanley Steamer. Within that area you can find an operating winery (Bear Pond Wines), two operating Breweries (Brewery Ommegang and Cooperstown Brewing Company) a turn of the century railroad and the Iroquois Indian Museum.
The area is dotted with numerous bed and breakfasts, plus some brand new hotels so you will not have trouble finding accommodations to suite your taste. If camping is your thing, you can camp right at the airport, under the wing of your plane for free, or stay at one of the numerous camp grounds that dot the area.
We stayed at the Hartwick Highlands Campgrounds, a new facility, and it is first class. There are literally dozens of events, festivals and shows held here annually from antique shows to the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
The airport at Cooperstown is a story all its own. The owner, Richard Hanna, bought the airport when it was delinquent on taxes a few years ago. “The airport was going to go away,” said Hanna, as we sat chatting in the last original building on the airport still standing, “and I just couldn’t have that. Sometimes things are not about money. I knew I wasn’t going to make anything owning this airport, but I live here and I fly here, so I bought it.”
Hanna went on to tell how he knocked down the original hangars (which were ready to fall down on their own) and built additional units. As we walked around his pristine 2000 model Cessna 182 and his Cub Crafters PA-18 Super Cub on amphibious floats, he told me how he lengthened the meticulously kept grass runway from 2,300 feet to 2,600 feet and applied for a GPS approach.
He installed a fuel farm, a paved tiedown area and runway lights. “We even keep it open all winter,” he continued, telling how they need to wait till the ground freezes so they can run the plows and not tear up the turf.
The airport, officially called Cooperstown-Westville Airport (K23) now has 32 based aircraft, up from 17 before he had bought it. “Hangar space is sold out,” Hanna said, adding that he has no plans to build more. “At $150 per month for a shade port and $195 per month for a hangar, I know that is comparatively cheap, but like I said, some things aren’t about money.”
Hanna has also installed bathroom facilities with showers as well as clothes washers and dryers for those who want to camp there with their aircraft. The cost? There is none, and the local Ford dealer will bring you a rent a car if you want one.
When I asked him what type of business he would like to attract to his airport, he candidly replied, “None. I want this place to stay just exactly like it is now. This airport is about no fences, and lots and lots of grass. The value added in this airport is in the people that come and the aircraft they bring here.”
In a day and age where pilots are dealing with TSA, airport security badges, and barbed wire-topped fences, Hanna’s Cooperstown-Westville Airport harkens back to a time when taildraggers were called “conventional” aircraft and kids were welcome on airport property.
Just 30 minutes’ flight time from Albany, 40 minutes from Syracuse and a little over an hour from Newark in any single-engine aircraft, Cooperstown, N.Y. is a great day trip, or weekend hop. Check it out on the web at www.cooperstownairport.com.
Michael Leighton is a 3,000-hour CFII/MEI/ATP and holds a type rating in CE-500 series business jets. He is a current and active flight instructor, a licensed A&P mechanic and a former FAA Accident Prevention Counselor. He operates a Part 135 on demand air charter company in South Florida. You can reach him at av8tor0414@aol.com.
