was out of the possession of the Bowers family, but the
remainder of the house is of the original building, and the carved
wooden doors and mantel-pieces within testify to the skill of old-time
workmanship in Cooperstown. The wide stretches of lawn shaded by
venerable trees, and the long sweep of lake shore commanded by Lakelands
make it a charming country seat.

* * * * *

In 1801 George Pomeroy, a young man of twenty-two years, arrived from
Albany, and set up in business as the first druggist in the village and
county. His store stood on Main Street on the site of the present Clark
Gymnasium. Some of the hardships of the early settlers to which history
may only allude are suggested by a sign which hung in front of the drug
store of Dr. Pomeroy, as he was called. This sign depicted a hand
pointing to these words: "Itch cured for 2 cts. 4 cts. 6 cts. Unguentum.
Walk in."

Dr. Pomeroy had other talents beside his skill in chemistry, and soon
became a popular citizen of the village, displaying one accomplishment
that was perhaps not so rare then as now in being an expert in the
exposition of the Bible. Dr. Pomeroy was not so absorbed in his Bible as
to be indifferent to the heavenly qualities which radiated from the
person of Ann Cooper, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the founder of
the village, for it soon appeared that these two young people had formed
a romantic attachment. In aspiring to the hand of the heiress Dr.
Pomeroy could not promise to endow her with great riches, but he had a
good name in being a grandson of General Seth Pomeroy who fought at
Bunker Hill.

It was as a wedding gift to his daughter, on her marriage to George
Pomeroy in 1804, that Judge Cooper built the old stone house which
stands at the corner of Main and River streets. It was the first stone
house constructed in the village, and the peculiar herring-bone style in
which the stone is laid lends to this old residence a quaint and unusual
charm. Under the eastern gable of the house is wrought in stone a spread
eagle, with the date of the building, and the initials of the young
couple who began housekeeping there. The involved order of the
initials--G. A. P. C.--the master-mason, Jamie Allen,[74] explained by
saying that the lives, like the initials, of the bride and groom, should
be so entwined as to make their union permanent. And so it proved, for
they lived in peace and harmony to a great age. The house w