AllWays Traveller Features
Sensational Stays: Otesaga Resort
Some hotels are simply places to spend the night. Others become inseparable from the destination itself. Rising above the southern shore of Otsego Lake—better known to readers of James Fenimore Cooper as "Glimmerglass"—The Otesaga Resort Hotel welcomes travelers seeking equal parts recreation, history, and timeless elegance. While baseball fans know this area as the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, an active and friendly Cooperstown is waiting at the end of a tree-lined drive, where towering white columns, rocking chairs, and lake breezes have greeted guests for more than a century at this sensational stay. The Otesaga IS Cooperstown.
This grand Colonial Revival hotel opened in 1909. The vision of the Clark family, heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, imagined a resort that would rival the great hotels of the Northeast while basking in the beauty of Otsego Lake. Built with broad verandas, stately white columns, and sweeping views of the water, The Otesaga quickly became a destination for families, sportsmen, and society travelers seeking fresh mountain air and refined hospitality.
The hotel embraced innovation from the beginning, offering amenities uncommon for its era, including telephones in every guest room and modern mechanical systems that reflected the optimism of the early twentieth century. Through two world wars, changing travel trends, and the growth of Cooperstown, The Otesaga has remained a constant. Today, its elegant architecture and lakeside setting merges the grace of a bygone era with a new generation of convenience and a bit of opulence.
My family stayed in room 330, a Lake Suite 2 Queen Room with massive windows offering blissful views of Lake Otsego. For four of us, this was the perfect home for a long weekend in Cooperstown. We loved the fluffy bathrobes and the ability to sit comfortably on a couch or chair while everyone got ready. The Otesaga offers a wide array of rooms, from traditional guestrooms to massive Superior Lake Suites with a soaking tub, wet bar, and—of course—views of the lake. <2 – inset, left, photo of property>
The Otesaga has several eateries. The Hawkeye Bar & Grill is known for awesome burgers and pizza, and I especially liked the Steakhouse Burger. Leatherstocking Golf Bar & Grill is a seasonal venue offering sweeping golf course views and a small menu of salads, flatbreads, and sandwiches. The outdoor Fire Bar offers late-night bites and signature cocktails. And our favorite dining venue (at the hotel AND in Cooperstown) was 1909. This formal yet artistic setting mixes nouvelle cuisine with modern creativity illustrated by a "bento box" of small plates like crispy buttermilk fried oysters, goat cheese cannoli, and crab cakes with kefir lime emulsion.
While out of our room we fell in love with Cooperstown. It is a rare place that can be both tranquil and exciting at the same time. We visited art museums as well as the Baseball Hall of Fame, living history museums and shops filled with delightful owners. We tapped into great conversations at breweries and distilleries. The town is filled with great lunch spots. And even with four days here, we know we need to come back to get the full experience of everything Cooperstown has to offer (our visit was in the fall, so we will come back in spring or summer).
HELPFUL LINKS:
Hotel: https://www.otesaga.com/
This Is Cooperstown: https://www.thisiscooperstown.com/
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ISSN 2634-7032
London, United Kingdom
+44 0 7764 198 286