Cooperstown Observed by Sam Goodyear

Rome on the Susquehanna

All roads lead to Rome, a saying that arose in medieval France, but that was then and this is now. A cursory inspection of the license plates in the Doubleday Field parking lot, as well as the license plates in The Otesaga Hotel parking lot, will lead to the altered conclusion that all roads lead to Cooperstown. Idaho, Alaska, California, Texas, New Hampshire, Quebec, Kentucky, Nova Scotia, New Mexico, and Rhode Island are all cases in point.

Omniscient Siri will guide you along the myriad roads that lead to Cooperstown. Better still, since a picture is worth a thousand words, consulting a map (remember them?) will more vividly prove the point. From any point on the continent, roads will bring you here. And since we have left medieval France behind, we can update our concept of roads to include airplanes crossing oceans and continents. As stated heretofore, this is now.

If all roads lead to Cooperstown, it is true conversely that all roads out of Cooperstown lead to the rest of the world. For example, in 1974, a young American teacher in Eswatini on a visit to nearby Mozambique was introduced to another American at the same household.

“Where in the United States are you from?”

“New York. And you?”

“New York. From the foothills of the Catskills. Cooperstown.”

“Yes, I’m from Cooperstown.”

“No. I’m saying I’m from Cooperstown.”

“No, no. I’m from Cooperstown.”

How many thousands of miles and how many roads led to this improbable meeting of two Cooperstownians in a far flung city on the Indian Ocean? See what I mean? Speaking of Rome, Roman fare can be had right here on the Susquehanna, at Toscana, Nicoletta’s, Sal’s Pizzeria, New York Pizzeria and Bocca.

We may not have the fountain of Trevi, but coins can be tossed and wishes can be made at the tiny bridge over Willow Brook, on Chestnut Street, where Susquehanna Avenue starts.

Some people have said for ages, see Rome and die. That was then, but this is now.

See Cooperstown and live!

Sam Goodyear was born in Cooperstown and, because of his father’s profession in the Foreign Service, grew up all over the world and continued that pattern throughout his adult life until two years ago, when he returned to where he was born. It took him only 80 years to do so.