Otsego Hall

Otsego Hall

Otsego Hall was a house in Cooperstown, New York, United States which was the ancestral mansion of United States novelist James Fenimore Cooper. It was built by William Cooper, the novelist's father and founder of Cooperstown, where the mansion was located. Construction was started in 1796 and completed in 1799. For many years, it was the manor house of William's possessions, and by far the most spacious and stately private residence in central New York.

In June, 1834, James resolved to reopen the ancestral mansion, after an absence of nearly sixteen years. The mansion had been long closed and was falling into decay. Repairs were at once begun, and the house was speedily put in order. At first, James spent his winters in New York City and summered in Cooperstown, but eventually he made Otsego Hall his permanent abode. The mansion burned down a few years after his death, and the surrounding property was sold by the heirs. His daughter, Susan Fenimore Cooper, built her home in Cooperstown mainly with bricks and materials from the ruins of Otsego Hall

References

•  "Cooper, James Fenimore". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.