DeLancey-Cooper House On Verge
Of Being Sold, Donations Needed
COOPERSTOWN – The Friends of the DeLancey-Cooper House in Mamaroneck have only two weeks to raise the final $500,000 of $2.5 million needed to acquire and preserve the property where James Fenimore Cooper was provoked into writing his first novel, “Precaution.”
“I’m afraid we don’t have good news,” Carol Akin of Mamaroneck, who summers on Otsego Lake, in an e-mail to people who have supported the drive.
She said a major supporter of the Mamaroneck Historical Society’s drive believes needed repairs will drive up renovation costs – “I don’t agree” – but that will encourage the property owner to sell to developers planning a project at the site, which overlooks the village harbor.
“If anyone knows someone who could consider even a major portion of the $500,000 we will need to save and move the house, please, please let me know!” Akin wrote. She may be reached at carolakin@gmail.com
