HALL]

The Cooper Grounds, now kept as a public park by the Clark Estate,
include the property that belonged to Fenimore Cooper. Otsego Hall,
which was destroyed by fire in 1852, after the novelist's death, must
be imagined at the centre of the grounds, where its outward appearance,
as well as the arrangement of its interior, may be reconstructed by the
fancy from the wooden model made from a design by G. Pomeroy Keese, and
now to be seen in the village museum. Cooper's favorite garden-seat
exists in facsimile in its original situation at the southeast corner of
the grounds.

When in 1834 the old mansion of the founder of Cooperstown began once
more to be occupied it was a matter of great interest to the people of
the village. Many of them well remembered Fenimore Cooper and his bride
when, twenty years before, they had lived at Fenimore. They recalled the
former resident as James Cooper, for it was not until 1826 that he
adopted the middle name, in compliance with a request which his mother
had made that he should use her family name.[103] Twenty years had made
many changes in Cooperstown, and there was a large proportion of
residents who knew Fenimore Cooper only from his writings and by
reputation. Therefore when he came back to dwell in the home of his
youth he was regarded by many almost as a newcomer in the neighborhood,
and to his family as well as to himself a rather cautious welcome was
given. It had to be admitted at the outset that the changes which
Fenimore Cooper made in Otsego Hall were disapproved by some of the
villagers. They did not like the foreign air which the old house now
began to give itself with its battlements and gothic elaborations. Here
was the first muttering of the storm that clouded the later years of
Fenimore Cooper.

[Illustration: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER]

Cooper's personal appearance was in accord with the strong individuality
of his character. He was of massive, compact form, six feet in height,
over two hundred pounds in weight and rather portly in later years, of
firm and aristocratic bearing, a commanding figure: "a very castle of a
man" was the phrase which Washington Irving applied to him. The
bust[104] made by David d'Angers in Paris in 1828 gives to Cooper a
classic splendor of head and countenance which is in agreement with the
impression produced upon those who well remembered him. He had a full,
expansive forehead, strong features, florid complexion, a mouth firm
withou