If you miss the drive, don't worry. There's a second one.
A succession of hills and dales.
James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers, 1823. He was writing about this valley.
It is not hard to see how the man who wrote The Last of the Mohicans came from here. The same ridgeline, the same fog sitting in the low field at six in the morning, the same light in October that makes people pull the car over.
The farmhouse
Built in 1850, and it has never once pretended otherwise.
Nothing here is plumb. The floors lean and the thresholds rise. None of that is broken. It is the reason the house feels like something instead of nothing.
Two king suites, each with its own bath, so two families can share the house without anybody drawing the short straw. The first-floor king means the grandparents never take the stairs.
- 4 bedrooms
- 3 full baths
- Sleeps 10
- 2,500 sq ft
- 36 acres
A day on the hill
How the hours go.
- 6 AMFog settles in the low field.
- 7 AMThe deer come out for breakfast.
- 8 AMCoffee. Percolator, Keurig, or the Moccamaster.
- NoonDown to the ponds with a rod.
- 3 PMDreams Park, or nowhere at all.
- 7 PMEveryone at the long table.
- 9 PMPool and bad piano in Simon's Barn.
Simon's Barn
Where the night actually happens.
Cedar walls under a pitched roof, a bar, a pool table, a dartboard, and a piano that somebody always ends up playing badly. The walls carry old pennants, wooden rackets, and bats that were swung long before any of us got here.
It is named for Simon, who never got to see the place.
The sheet
One roll, start to finish.
The land
Two ponds, one apple tree, and nobody to tell the kids to stop running.
A floating dock sits on the near pond. A sentinel apple tree stands alone in the meadow and has been there roughly a century. You will see deer, turkeys, hummingbirds, and maybe even a bobcat.
And otters. Nobody expected the otters.
The neighbors
Meet the neighbors.
They were here first. Deer in the meadow most mornings, otters working the pond whenever they feel like it.
The table
Everyone eats together here, and then nobody leaves.
The dining room seats twelve. A second table in the kitchen seats eight. The kitchen has every appliance you would want for feeding a crowd rather than for a couple making toast.
The living room is big enough that a card game can run in one corner while the rest of the family watches the game in the other. That is usually how the evening goes.
What's here
Pull up and plug in.
In the house
- Two king suites with private baths
- Queen room
- Twin room with two twin beds
- Two additional rollaways
- Indoor hot tub room (photos coming soon)
- Washer and dryer off the kitchen
- Full kitchen, every appliance
- Dining for twelve, kitchen table for eight
- Central air, plus a standing unit in the first-floor suite
- Two wood stoves and a fireplace
- Keyless entry
In the barn
- Level 2 EV charger
- Pool table
- Piano
- Bar
Getting online
- Fiber, 250 Mbps
- Starlink as backup
- Mesh wifi if someone needs dedicated bandwidth
Outside
- Two ponds, one with a floating dock
- Fire pit with seating and firewood
- Propane grill on the deck
- Lawn games
- Trolley and coolers to take to the park
- Parking for ten cars
Cooperstown
16 minutes to Dreams Park. 22 to All Star Village. 19 to the Hall of Fame.
The Fenimore, Otsego Lake, Brewery Ommegang, the Fly Creek Cider Mill, and the Glimmerglass Festival are all inside a short drive. Rained out, or just done with baseball for a day? Any one of them fills an afternoon.
Winter is its own season up here. Snowmobile trails run through Honey Hill State Forest and the Canadarago Snowtoppers network, Gilbert Lake State Park is close by, and Cooperstown Equestrian Park is three miles down the road.
- Albany airport 1 hr 35
- New York City 4 hrs
Film here
Thirty-six acres with nothing modern in the frame.
An 1850 farmhouse, a cedar-lined barn, two ponds, a meadow, and a treeline. No neighbors in the shot and no road noise. Four hours from New York, ninety minutes from Albany, with parking for a crew and power at the barn.
Stills, commercials, and small narrative shoots welcome. Tell us what you need and when.
Ask about a shootWhat to bring
Nothing fancy.
- Boots. The ground's soft by the ponds.
- A fishing rod. Everything goes back in.
- Your own coffee pods, if you're particular.
- A good charger. Your phone is the flashlight.
- An electric car. There's a charger in the barn. No battery anxiety.
- Your comfy clothes. Nobody's dressing for dinner.
Book a stay
Come up the driveway.
Summer weeks around the tournaments go first, and Induction weekend goes before that. Fall on this hill is the best-kept part of the year.
Check dates on AirbnbQuestions first? Email us.
- First stays January 8, 2027
- Check-in 4 PM, checkout 9 AM
- 269 West Hill Road, Cooperstown, New York