1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (30 page)

Spiritual seekers are drawn to the special energy of these mountains and have created numerous ashrams, yoga camps, and Buddhist retreats. Zen Mountain Monastery offers traditional Zen training in a rustic Japanese-style structure where students sleep in a five-bunk dormitory and rise at 5:30 to join 60-odd Buddhist monks for morning meditation. During themed weekend retreats guests learn how to apply mindfulness to walking, calligraphy, even computer programming. The nearby Menla Mountain House (affiliated with the Tibet House in New York City) also holds retreats, led by the likes of Tibetan Buddhist Robert Thurman (father of Uma).

Those who bond with nature while hip-high in cold mountain springs will want to make a pilgrimage to the Beaverkill River, the birthplace of American dry-fly fishing and possibly the most famous trout stream in the U.S. It is the raison d’être for the Beaverkill Valley Inn, a classic 20-room trout fishing lodge (with a mile of frontage on the Beaverkill). Anglers are only a quick cast away from the revered Wulff Fly Fishing School, founded by American fly-fishing icon Lee Wulff. Since his death, his wife Joan carries on, teaching everything from trout fishing basics to advanced casting techniques.

For those who prefer their great outdoors with refined indoor comforts, the Emerson Resort and Spa is the Catskills’ best destination. Recently rebuilt after a fire, it offers luxury suites and a Silk Road–themed spa with Ayurvedic treatments. It’s “adults only” in the sleek spa wing, but the new Lodge across the street provides a perfect family holiday. Along with hiking, biking, and fishing, there’s tubing—a nice, slow ride down the dancing Esopus Creek in a big fat inner tube.

W
HERE:
100 miles northwest of New York City.
Catskill visitor info:
Tel 800-NYS-CATS or 518-943-3223;
www.catskillvacation.net
.
Ulster County visitor info:
Tel 800-342-5826 or 845-340-3566;
www.ulstertourism.info
.
W
OODSTOCK
F
ILM
F
ESTIVAL
: Tel 845-679-4265;
www.woodstockfilmfestival.com
.
Cost:
from $5 for individual films; $550 for full pass, includes screenings, panels, and parties.
When:
4 days in early Oct.
B
ETHEL
W
OODS
C
ENTER
: Tel 845-454-3388;
www.bethelwoodslive.org
.
Cost:
from $15 for lawn seats.
When:
schedule varies; check website.
Z
EN
M
OUNTAIN
M
ONASTERY
: Mt. Tremper. Tel 845-688-2228;
www.mro.org/zmm
.
Cost:
$225 for 2-nights, includes meals.
M
ENLA
M
OUNTAIN
R
ETREAT:
call Tibet House in
NYC, tel 212-807-0563;
www.menla.org
.
Cost:
from $304 per person for 2 nights, includes meals;
When:
retreats Mar–Nov.
B
EAVERKILL
V
ALLEY
I
NN:
Lew Beach. Tel 845-439-4844;
www.beaverkillvalley.com
.
Cost:
from $225 (off-peak), from $325 (peak), includes meals.
W
ULFF
F
LY
F
ISHING
S
CHOOL:
Livingston Manor. Tel 800-328-3638 or 845-439-5020;
www.royalwulff.com
.
Cost:
$475 for 2-day course.
When:
Apr–June.
T
HE
E
MERSON
R
ESORT AND
S
PA:
Tel 877-688-2828 or 845-688-2828;
www.emersonresort.com
.
Cost:
lodge from $195.
B
EST TIMES
: Apr–mid-Oct for trout fishing; Oct for Woodstock Film Festival; mid-Oct for peak foliage.

Inspiring Marriage of Intellect and Spirit

Chautauqua, New York

One of the few utopian-minded communities to survive to the present day, Chautauqua Institution is a 750-acre lakeside Victorian village founded in 1874 by a Methodist bishop and an Akron industrialist who believed
that everyone has a right to learning. Peculiarly American in character for its optimistic emphasis on self-improvement, Chautauqua Assembly (as it was called) started as an experimental summer camp for Sunday School teachers and quickly broadened to include lectures by experts on academic topics, inspirational talks, and performances of the arts for anyone who attended. Immortalized in the 1970s cult classic
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Robert Pirsig, Chautauqua is more than just a place on the map, it is an imaginative ideal of arts and learning. President Ulysses S. Grant came here as a participant; future president Bill Clinton spoke here as a young governor of Arkansas; and Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his historic “I hate war” speech here.

Today 145,000 people attend at least one event during the nine-week-long summer season. Each week has its own theme, tending toward weighty subjects such as the obligations of citizenship and global climate change. Any given day might include lectures by experts, addresses by divinity professors, performances of Anton Chekov’s
The Cherry Orchard
by the Chautauqua Conservatory Theatre, or a concert by a big name like Lyle Lovett. The heart of Chautauqua programming is the resident symphony, ballet, and opera companies that perform on rotating nights in the 5,000-seat open-air amphitheater.

Visitors who start with an overnight visit find the blend of intellectual stimulation, spiritual growth, and natural beauty so refreshing they often return for longer stays.

The most comfortable place to stay is the Athenaeum Hotel, an elaborate 15-room Victorian grande dame built in 1881 with plenty of rocking chairs overlooking a sweep of lawn that unfolds down to the shores of Lake Chautauqua.

W
HERE
: 75 miles southwest of Buffalo. Tel 800-836-ARTS or 716-357-6200;
www.chautauqua-inst.org
.
Cost:
1-day ticket $25 (excludes theatre, opera, special concerts); weekly pass including all events $290.
When:
late June–Aug.
A
THENAEUM
H
OTEL:
Tel 800-821-1881 or 716-357-4444;
www.athenaeumhotel.com
.
Cost:
from $299, includes meals for 2.
When:
late June–Aug.

Baseball, Bel Canto, and Bucolic Charm

New York

Agracious, tree-lined village amid upstate New York’s woodlands, Cooperstown sits proudly stuck in time on the southern tip of placid Otsego Lake, a hill-ringed lake so crystal clear it is the source of the
town’s drinking water. According to legend, it was here, in 1839, that Abner Doubleday laid out the dimensions of a diamond and originated the game of baseball—a distinction that’s made the town a pilgrimage site for baseball lovers and home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Set in a modest three-story brick building on the town’s four-block-long Main Street, the museum’s collection runs the gamut from Joe DiMaggio’s locker and Brooks Robinson’s glove to Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” bat from the 1932 World Series—in all, some 36,000 objects.

An unusually handsome small town with a year-round population of 2,000, Cooperstown draws throngs of tourists each summer, but they’re not all here for the baseball.

Every July and August since 1975, Cooperstown hosts the prestigious Glimmerglass Opera, an acclaimed festival that blends classic repertory with operatic rarities, Rossini to Janacek, performed by a renowned cast. An intimate, acoustically perfect 900-seat house has walls that open to views of surrounding farmland. Nineteenth-century novelist James Fenimore Cooper, son of the New Jersey transplant who founded Cooperstown in 1786, referred to Otsego Lake as “Glimmerglass,” and thus the festival’s name.

Artifacts from the younger Cooper’s life can be found at the Fenimore Art Museum, a 1930s neo-Georgian mansion on Lake Otsego, along with an exceptional collection of North American Indian Art. The museum also holds a world-class collection of folk art and a sterling collection of Hudson River artists like Thomas Cole.

The Farmers’ Museum across the street is the granddaddy of all living history museums, an imaginary farm community made up of early 19th-century buildings—general store, doctor’s office, printer—that offers a rich portrait of the life of early rural Americans. Founded in 1943 by the Clark family, heirs to the Singer sewing machine fortune and the town’s benefactors (now in their fifth generation), the museum is staffed by skilled guides in costume, with real cows and sheep as extras.

Amid it all sits the Inn at Cooperstown, a fine example of Second Empire architecture from 1874. The aroma of fresh-baked muffins and breads heightens the atmosphere of this warm and friendly B&B. For the grandest accommodation in town, head to the expansive Federal-style Otesaga Resort Hotel, commissioned in 1909 by the Clark family. Much has been made of its 400 windows, unrivaled lakefront setting, and venerable 18-hole Leatherstocking Golf Course, designed by Devereaux Emmet nearly a century ago. Short by today’s standards (6,416 yards from the back tees), Leatherstocking provides plenty of challenge with its hills and its famed island tee on the 18th hole.

W
HERE
: 65 miles west of Albany.
Visitor info:
Tel 607-547-9983;
www.cooperstownchamber.org
.
B
ASEBALL
H
ALL OF
F
AME:
Tel 888-HALL-OF-FAME or 607-547-7200;
www.baseballhalloffame.org
.
G
LIMMERGLASS
O
PERA:
Tel 607-547-2255;
www.glimmerglass.org
.
Cost:
from $64.
When:
Jul–Aug.
F
ENIMORE
A
RT
M
USEUM:
Tel 888-547-1450 or 607-547-1400;
www.fenimoreartmuseum.org
.
When:
daily, June–Sept; Tues–Sun, Apr–May and Oct–Nov.
F
ARMERS’
M
USEUM
: Tel 888-547-1450 or 607-547-1450,
www.farmersmuseum.org
.
When:
closed Nov–Mar except for holiday events (see website).
T
HE
I
NN AT
C
OOPERSTOWN:
Tel 607-547-5756;
www.innatcooperstown.com
.
Cost:
$99 (off-peak), $198 (peak).
O
TESAGA
R
ESORT:
Tel 800-348-6222 or 607-547-9931;
www.otesaga.com
.
Cost:
from $360 (off-peak), from $395 (peak), includes breakfast and dinner.
When:
mid-Apr–mid-Nov.
B
EST TIMES
: 3rd weekend in July for the National Baseball Hall of Fame Game and induction ceremonies; 1 night in mid-Dec for the Candlelit Evening at the Farmer’s Museum.

In 1939 the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum held its first induction ceremony.

A Mesmerizing Blend of Art, History, and Science

Corning, New York

Apriceless treasury in the heart of New York’s scenic Finger Lakes region (see p. 149), the Corning Museum of Glass holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of historic and art glass, showcasing 3,500 years
of glassmaking history from around the globe. It is, quite literally, dazzling, and even if you don’t think you have an interest in glass, you will by the time you leave. The best of its kind in the country, the Corning Museum of Glass is New York’s third-largest tourist destination, after New York City and Niagara Falls.

The museum was founded by the Corning Glass Works in 1950; it’s a nonprofit institution with a broader mission than just showcasing its own wares: it aims to preserve and expand the world’s understanding of glass from an artistic, historic, and scientific perspective.

Tilting sheets of glass hung on delicate steel spider supports form the dramatic entrance to the 120,000-square-foot museum. Inside, the galleries follow glassmaking from antiquity through the grand factories of Europe, then America (including a section on the history of glassmaking in Corning, where Steuben glass originated), and finally, to the American Studio Glass Movement in 1962, where for the first time individual artists could complete all stages of glassmaking themselves. Highlights include a 3,400-year-old glass portrait of an Egyptian pharaoh, an 11-foot-high Tiffany window from 1905, and a table-long glass boat cut by Baccarat in 1900.