Sometimes it’s nice to get off the fast-moving interstate highways, to slow down a bit and enjoy some of the scenery.
One could do so and much more in the summer of 2004 in northern Otsego County, including seeing Cooperstown on a day when baseball took a back seat in tourism.
With a dateline of Cherry Valley, readers of The Daily Star on July 20 learned, “U.S. Route 20, once the main east-west artery in central New York, and county Route 54 in Cherry Valley and Springfield may soon receive scenic byway status.
“The designation, which may be accorded by the state Legislature later this year, would make communities along the routes and some side roads eligible for grants to beautify their roadsides.
“For more than two years, a steering committee has been working on an application to make a scenic byway of Route 20 from Duanesburg to Lafayette.
“Now, following recent action by town boards in Springfield and Cherry Valley and now the Otsego County Board of Representatives, county Route 54 has been included in the application, according to Susan Miller, Cherry Valley town historian.
“‘It’s only fair that Route 54 is part of the scenic byway,’ she said. Before Route 20 was reconstructed decades ago, it followed the same path that county Route 54 takes on its way to the village of Cherry Valley, she said.
On other slower byways, travelers got fine views of the lovely lakes and streams around the county, although some of these were experiencing some new problems. As The Star of July 20 also reported, “Zebra mussels have been found in the Susquehanna River south of Goodyear Lake and may have reached Oneonta.
“First found in Canadarago Lake in Richfield two summers ago, the larvae of the invasive mollusks apparently migrated down Canadarago’s outlet stream, Oaks Creek, to the Susquehanna River, according to Willard Harman, director of the State University College at Oneonta’s Biological Field Station on Otsego Lake.”
Also in that same edition of The Star, and with the field station in mind, it was reported, “SUCO officials and guests will meet at the Thayer property near Cooperstown at 11 a.m. Thursday to inaugurate development of the Upland Interpretive Center.
“The center, an expansion of the college’s Biological Field Station, will offer programs to study relationships between freshwater ecosystems and surrounding watersheds.
“In mid-July last year, SUCO unveiled a multimillion-dollar master plan to expand Biological Field Station programs at the Thayer property.
“About 200 acres of farmland, woods and fields with farm buildings were bequeathed in 2001 for renovations and educational programming.”
It was a rare summer day that year when at least for one day, baseball fans were outnumbered in Cooperstown — at Doubleday Field, of all places.
As The Star of Aug. 7 reported, “There was dancing on the infield as more than 12,000 people attended the Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson concert on Friday.”
Not surprisingly, tickets had been sold out for these singer-songwriters, with tickets sold in Japan, France and all over the United States. Money from concessions went to fund the Cooperstown Fire Department’s new ambulance.
“Lines began forming in the Doubleday Field parking lot more than six hours before the gates opened.
“First in line at one gate was Maria Goldeski, a Willie Nelson fan from Brunswick, N.J.
“‘I was in Saratoga last night and I’m going to New Haven (Conn.) to see him tomorrow,’ Goldeski said.”
Goldeski and crowd heard Willie Nelson open with “Whiskey River,” and later Bob Dylan opened with “Drifters Escape.”
This weekend, the 1944 summertime in northern Otsego County.