Searching for the REAL Secrets of MIrror Bay - an Excursion Through Cooperstown, New York

Back in 2017, a good friend of mine, Pam Hancock, decided to take a deeper look into the 49th Nancy Drew Mystery Story, The Secret of Mirror Bay.  She knew that some of the places mentioned in the book existed in the real world, but as she delved into the book and began researching the area, she was shocked to discover just how much of the real world made it into that book!  Published back in 1972, The Secret of Mirror Bay was written by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and takes place in Cooperstown, New York.  Nancy, Bess, and George help a young woman who is searching for a family heirloom, and along the way they encounter involved in a vacation hoax perpetrated by a woman who resembles Nancy and also face off against a weird, luminescent green sorcerer.  It is definitely a unique story that has plenty going on; but what is truly unique about this tale is just how many real-life locations Adams put into her story!

 

Pam and I, along with another friend, decided to do more than just read the book - we made plans to take a trip to Cooperstown, but things got waylaid by the COVID situation. The lockdowns and the closed borders made it impossible to take the trip we had planned in 2020.  So, we looked forward to 2021, but there were still restrictions in place.  So, we made plans for 2022, but our other friend dropped out, leaving Pam and me on our own.  While 2022 did not work out either, we decided 2023 was going to be the year!  Unexpectedly, the Nancy Drew Sleuths announced a convention the same year in Cooperstown, and while we had considered joining that excursion, the dates unfortunately conflicted with other plans (I will be going to Ireland in July 2023, and Pam's soon-to-expire passport had a slim chance of getting renewed due to labor strife), so we went forward with our originally scheduled plans of taking the trip in the Spring!  With a rather detailed list of places from the book that had been researched and mapped out several years prior, we were set to truly uncover all of the REAL secrets that lay hidden in and around "Mirror Bay" (a/k/a Otesgo Lake at Glimmerglass State Park).

We decided if we were going to do this right, then we needed to truly follow the girls' steps in the book.  Nancy gives some historical background of the lake prior to the girls leaving:  "The Indians called the lake Otesaga and there's a lovely hotel named after it.  Later James Fennimore Cooper wrote stories about settlers and Indians in the area.  He found the water so much like a mirror that he called it Glimmerglass.  Now the official name is Otsego Lake" (p. 2).  She then proceeds to explain to Bess and George that her Aunt Eloise was taking a bus to Cooperstown, where Nancy would pick her up before driving to the cottage where they will be staying (p. 3).  So, to begin the journey properly, we had to start where the girls did - at the Cooperstown bus stop!  It turns out there is only one bus stop in the quaint, historical town, and Pam took a seat there, waiting for Nancy, Bess, and George to arrive!

From there, it was time to find the cottage, "Mirror Bay Bide-A-Wee," where the girls stayed during their time in Cooperstown.  Aunt Eloise directs Nancy to drive along East Lake Road, which we followed out of downtown Cooperstown.  Just as described in the book, "[o]n their left was the mirror-like water ... [t]o the right of the road was a steep wooded hillside, broken only now and then by a house or garage" (p. 8).  This pretty much describes the drive along East Lake Road exactly.  There are probably a few more houses along the way now, more than there were back in the early 1970s when Adams likely visited the area, but you still get the view of the lake and the woods are still pretty thick and steep!  Following the book's directions, we traveled six miles along East Lake Road.  We did not find a "small parking area on the left" as indicated in the book, but we did find a drive that led down to a house located right at this point.  (Being private property, we respected their boundaries and did not venture down to the lakeside, despite how much we would have loved to!)  We were able to discern this was the right location, because the book indicates that the cabin's porch had "a view west across the lake and north across the bay" (p. 10), which is precisely the view that would be available from that point!

In The Secret of Mirror Bay, the next morning finds Nancy, Bess and George trudging "up the hill to the road.  They turned right toward Cooperstown and presently met a group of boy campers on a hike with a counselor" (p. 14).  Now, first, let's make it clear - if the girls intended to walk all the way from the cabin to Cooperstown, that would have been quite a long six-mile jaunt!  Even driving it in a car, it seemed like quite a distance.  While Nancy and George may have been up for the challenge, somehow I can't imagine Bess making it all six miles to town!  In any event, we turned right like the girls did, and less than one mile down the road, we found a small parking lot for a Christian camp called Pathfinder Lodge.  Research shows the Lodge was established back in 1947, which means it would have been there when Adams visited the area.  Thus, one can suppose that Adams may have seen some campers and decided to incorporate the site into her story.

The book goes on to say that Mirror Bide-A-Wee is a "cola stop" for hikers, "which is why there is a coke refrigerator in the corner of the porch" (p. 15).  Since that property is now a private house, it is unlikely there is still a "cola refrigerator" on the premises; however, while in Cooperstown, we did manage to discover a Coke machine (which was quite the feat, because every restaurant we visited in the area only served Pepsi products!).  Obviously, this would not have been the same type of coke refrigerator referred to in the book, but it did strike us as a bit of fun to find a Coke machine amidst a town full of Pepsi cola!

Moving right along, that same afternoon, "Aunt Eloise and the girls started for town ... Part way there, where the wooded mountain rose steeply from the road, the air suddenly reverberated with an anguished cry for help" (p. 18).  Nancy and George head off into the woods, but don't go far before meeting a young woman who is terrified.  "The sorcerer!" she exclaims.  "It's true! He's up there! Don't go any farther!" (p. 19).  So, having already left the six-mile point and heading towards Cooperstown, and having passed the possible camp where the boys had been staying, Pam and I looked to our left to see the wooded area that rose steeply from the road.  There is actually quite a distance along East Lake Road that could fit this description, and so we pulled off at one area to check it out.  And yes, we can definitely say with all certainty that the woods rise very steeply from the road.  We walked a short distance in (as did Nancy and George in the book), and we could quickly feel the sharp rise in the ground.  Karen Jones, the botany major looking for luminescent mushrooms in the book (p. 20) must have been in great shape to be able to hike up that steep incline in search of the fungi!

Next on the agenda for Nancy and the gang (as well as Pam and me!) was the Cooperstown main boat dock (p. 24).  It is here on the dock where Nancy and her friends first meet Johann Bradley ("Yo"), a young man who loves to joke, but who also manages to know some things about Cooperstown and its history and legends.  It's here at the dock where Aunt Eloise rents the sailboat for the girls. Nancy and George headed back to the cottage in the sailboat, while Bess and Aunt Eloise drove the car back (p. 27).  To our disappointment, we discovered that Cooperstown doesn't really come alive, so to speak until after May 1st, and so there were no boats docked while we were there (except for the tour boat, which was under cover until the summer season starts).  But you can catch a beautiful view of Otsego Lake from the dock, and that we definitely did!

The book describes how Nancy and George enjoy a leisurely sail up the river, and along the way they pass both Kingfisher Tower and Council Rock (p. 28).  Since there were no tour boats available, nor any rentals, Pam and I had to be diligent to find ways to catch a glimpse of both of these historical sites.  Council Rock was not overly difficult, as some locals gave us instructions how to get down past the docks and follow a path to a small inlet where Council Rock lay waiting for us.  Honestly, I think we were both a little surprised at how small the rock was (I guess we were expecting something larger - because at first, this appeared to be simply the back of a turtle sticking out of the water!).  But, just like in the book, the rock was indeed there.  And from that point, in the distance, we could see a glimpse of Kingfisher Tower.  But it took us driving up the west side of the lake in order to get a bit of a closer view of the Tower (since the property that leads to the Tower on the east side is privately owned and not open any more for the public).

Nancy also points out to George Mount Wellington, which is located towards the northern end of the lake (p. 28).  As she tells George, "...it's never been called that.  Instead, the mountain is known as Sleeping Lion because of its shape" (p. 28).  George instantly see the resemblance, but Pam and I looked at it from several different angles and had some difficulty trying to see the resemblance.  In fact, one of the locals admitted to us that she has never been able to see the "sleeping lion" either, so we weren't alone!

Another historical fact Nancy relates to George is that "...the village was founded by William Cooper, father of James Fenimore Cooper..." (p. 28).  Throughout the town, there is plenty of references to that, and we even came across a statue of good ol' James Fenimore Cooper, as well as his (and his wife's) grave.  Pam and I both agreed that it was great how much historical and factual truth Adams managed to integrate into this book, and we wondered if after reading this book, many kids did research, or even just asked their teachers, more about James Fenimore Cooper - perhaps even found and read some of his books - and all because of reading a Nancy Drew book!

The mystery in The Secret of Mirror Bay really heats up when Nancy, Bess and George, along with Aunt Eloise, decided to check out the story of the strange sorcerer in the woods and begin hiking up into the forest surrounding Otsego Lake.  The book has them hiking for some time up the "so-called trail" (p. 34), until the finally see "the strange apparition of the green man" a little ahead of them (p. 35).  The book describes him as being "swathed in a weird flickering light, and his face had an eerie greenish hue (p. 36)!  "Return to your cabin at once!" the voice of the apparition warns them (p. 36).  Pam and I knew it was not going to be easy, but we dared to find the trail that would lead up the wooded hillside to see if we could find any evidence of a strange sorcerer who glowed green.  What we discovered (and what we learned from locals in Cooperstown) is that the old trail had long worn away, and while there were attempts to mark the trial, it was not something easily followed.  Additionally, the hillside grew quite steep quite quickly, and it is evident that only people extremely fit and used to rigorous climbing would be able to really hike the full length of the trail!  We managed to make our way up the start of the hill, but immediately were confronted by our own mysterious man in green (okay, okay, yeah, so that was all in a bit of fun - but, hey?!  If Nancy Drew could have her glowing green sorcerer, we were entitled to have our own green giant!  And we marked the spot where we saw the green man with flowers - will they still be there when the Sleuth converge on Cooperstown...?).

Just as the girls settled back into helping Anne Armitage with the search for the child's Russian coach she wants to donate to the Fenimore Museum (p 46), so did Pam and I decide to check out the museum to see if there was ever a Russian coach donated there, or on display, in the past.  Located on the west side of the lake going up Route 80, the Fenimore Art Museum still stands open today.  The exhibits vary, and during our trip, the Museum boasted exhibits by Randy Johnson (Storytelling with Photographs) and Psychedelic Rock & Roll Poster Art.  There were other rooms and exhibits as well, including an old portrait of Otsego Lake that prominently featured the "Sleeping Lion."  From the lawns behind the museum, one can glimpse a beautiful view of the lake, across which you can see the Kingfisher Tower.  Right next to the Museum is the Fenimore Research Library, which unfortunately is only open by appointment for those doing specific research.

Right across from the Fenimore Art Museum is the Farmer's Market, which is home to the world-famous "Cardiff Giant" (p. 49).  Nancy and company visit the market, accurately described as being on the "west side of the lake" (p. 51).  The book provides a short, but apt, description of the museum:  "The exhibits were housed in a huge barn and several smaller buildings.  The adjoining grounds were laid out as a reproduction of a colonial village with separate offices for a lawyer, a doctor, and a printer.  There also were a pharmacist's shop with old fashioned candies, a blacksmith's, a pioneer homestead, a schoolhouse, and a church" (p. 51).  The only difference we noted is that the old fashioned candies are sold in the "general store," not in the pharmacist's shop.  And the pharmacist?  Well, the pharmacist on duty that day was quite the storyteller and had a deep, eerie voice that would probably give the luminescent green man in Mirror Bay a run for his money!  For me, though, it was the lawyer's shop that interested me the most (working as a paralegal, after all).  And Pam and I had a thrill riding the carousel (which appears to be a rather recent addition to the market).

 

Meanwhile, inside that huge barn, "the girls were intrigued by demonstrations of broom-making, spinning, and weaving" (pp. 51-52).  Pam and I saw the weaving and spinning instruments, but the only person who was active was a young man making brooms.  We stood and chatted with him for a bit, and he described the process by which he pulls apart the straw, binds them to the handles, and creates the hand-made brooms - which, by the way, are for sale, so that visitors can purchase their very own hand-made broom!  It was quite an interesting process, and it was easy to see the man was enjoying his work (and his hands moved so smoothly and with such skill, it was almost as if he were born to do it!).  And while we did not see any spinning or weaving in that barn, the colonial village did boast a weaver (the "Westcott Shop"), and we got to see a rather large loom!

But, yes, the biggest draw was the Cardiff Giant - after all, that was the main reason Nancy, Bess and George visited the Farmer's Market, and that was definitely what we wanted to see!  And just like Bess, we quickly discovered that "[t]he only thing about this being a giant is his size.  He's just carved out of wood and pretty crudely at that.  He has an Indian face, though" (p. 56).  Located right when you walk into the entrance of the market, the Cardiff Giant is on display for all who enter.  A sign in front of the exhibit provides a brief description of the "discovery" of the giant, although the book provides a few details behind the hoax itself (p. 56).

Now, we must take a moment to backtrack.  In Mirror Bay, before heading to the Farmer's Market to see the giant, Nancy makes a quick trip to the post office to see if any letters had arrived for her addressed to General Delivery (p. 50).  The book describes the post office as just up the street from the docks where they were talking with Yo.  Sure enough, the post office, which is located on the main street that runs through town, was just "up the street" from the docks, and Pam and I made a quick stop (and Pam even mailed out a package to herself, so that when she got home, she would have a Cooperstown postmark!).

Back to the story (and jumping forward a bit) ... when Yo leads the girls in search of a cave where some criminal activity may be going on, poor George is bitten by something when she reaches out to touch the cave's wall.  "It's a poisonous centipede!" Yo exclaims.  "Very poisonous!"  (p. 82).  Of course, Yo immediately jumps into action - first, he sucks the poison from the bite; second, he has Nancy tear off a wild-grape vine and strip off the leaves, which he uses as a tourniquet around George's arm; and third, he uses a sharp rock to cut a small crisscross over the wound, so that a trickle of blood would flow out of it (pp. 83-84).  While we were out exploring the woods, Pam managed to come across a centipede of her own!  (Thankfully, this one turned out to be one of the non-poisonous kind!)

In the book, Nancy asks Yo where he learned to treat that kind of puncture before, and he replies, "From an old Indian over in Cherry Valley" (p. 84).  It turns out Cherry Valley is a very real town just 15 miles northeast of Cooperstown.  Pam and I decided to take a detour and go visit Cherry Valley (which does still boast an Indian presence).  Interestingly enough, despite the small size of the community, we found a small bookstore that was once the town's telegraph building, built back in 1840!  The small building was even used as a training station for Morse code operators back in the day.  Which just goes to show, you never know what you'll find when you start exploring all the places in a Nancy Drew book!

Continuing the journey, our search took us to the Toy Museum mentioned by Aunt Eloise to the girls.  "One you'll love is the Toy Museum.  It's on the west side of the lake and a good distance from town," she tells them (p. 94).  Adams writes that the girls "took Route 80 toward Springfield Center.  At last they came to the old farmhouse and barn which were now used as a toy museum" (p. 94).  With these somewhat vague descriptions, we began our hunt for the Toy Museum.  Online research provided almost no clues whatsoever (other than one image of a postcard from the Toy Museum) - no address, no history, nothing!  Well, Pam and I put our heads together, put out some feelers, and with the surprisingly more than helpful information from some locals, we learned that the Toy Museum closed down years ago, and the property was now privately owned and once again used as a residence.  We did find the location and buildings, and we were able to see the buildings that once housed the museum visited by Nancy and her friends (and likely Adams, as well!).  

Jumping even further ahead now, we come to the secret of that valentine that Nancy, Bess and George found in the Toy Museum.  They were discussing the meaning of the number 5 and the backwards "C" on the card, and Nancy suggests, "It could stand for Five Mile Point across the lake" (p. 119).  She explains "that the jut of land was about five miles distance from Cooperstown" (p. 119).  She goes on to give some history about the point, and how the owner of the property went away, so locals used it for a picnic and swimming area (p. 120); they hoped the man would make it a public park when he returned, but he ran them off instead (p. 120).  Well, apparently, the locals eventually got their wish, just not where they had hoped.  Five Mile Point is marked by a sign on the west side of Otsego Lake, but two miles before that, there is a small picnic/swimming area at Three Mile Point, which offers views of the "Sleeping Lion" to the left and the Kingfisher Tower to the right!

 

 

Their discussion of Five Mile Point led the young detectives to ponder what was located northeast of that point - and a review of a map of the area showed that "a straight line from Five Mile Point directly northeast ... ended ... on the opposite side of the bay from Aunt Eloise's cottage" (p. 120).  "That's directly to the east of Glimmerglass Park," Burt points out (p. 120).  Needless to say, Pam and I headed off to Glimmerglass Park to take a gander at what was there.  As indicated in the book, there is indeed a public beach and plenty of picnic tables for tourists (and possibly locals, as well) to enjoy the bay.  

There is plenty of mishaps and danger as Ned and Nancy are overturned in the water by the culprits in the story, and then their sailboat is stolen!  When Yo drops by and offers to help them out, Nancy asks where one would be likely to hide a boat on this lake.  Yo instantly replies, "Where Shadow Brook empties into the lake" (p. 131).  While this was only a quick mention in the story, it was definitely worth investigating - and it paid off!  It turns out there is a Shadow Brook, just outside of Cooperstown (or just before you get to Cooperstown, all depending on which direction you are traveling!).  It is a small campground and RV park which just so happened to have been established back in 1969, only three years before this book was published.  The campground was not open during our visit, but we could see in the distance a small body of water, which we are guessing may somehow make its way over to Otsego Lake.  

The next site on our excursion is a location in the book that seems to have no real purpose to the story (other than to put Nancy and her friends in downtown Cooperstown at the moment when a bus arrives so she can question the bus driver).  In other words, a plot device.  However, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is located right on Main Street, just as stated in the book.  While Nancy and her friends went in to view the various baseball memorabilia on display, Pam and I decided to forego the tour of the museum, as neither one of us are really fans of baseball (and there was just SO much more to explore in Cooperstown!).

As the mystery races to its conclusion, Nancy and her friends make the trek up to Natty Bumpo's cave (p. 146).  Pam and I found the location of the path that leads up to Natty Bumpo's cave fairly easy (after all, there is a sign along the lakeside road that marks the spot (and even a small parking lot).  For those who may not know, Natty Bumpo was a fictional character in some of James Fenimore Cooper's books - a scout in the pentalogy of novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales.  The cave is said to be a favorite childhood place of Cooper.  As indicated hereinabove, the hiking in the area is quite steep and difficult, and some reviews online have indicated it is even treacherous in places.  While it would have been exciting to actually visit the cave.  Adams, in writing Mirror Bay, makes it seem there was no difficulty in reaching the cave.  From the moment they jump out of the car, pursuing the young woman who resembles Nancy, to the point where they find Natty Bumpo's cave (p. 146), there is no description of any uphill climb, no description of difficulties faced along the trial, or anything else that would make the hike appear as anything less than easy.  Of course, Adams would have visited the area fifty-plus years ago, so perhaps the trail was more defined than it is now, and maybe they had actual guides that led people up the trail to the cave back then.  In any event, Pam and I elected not to endanger ourselves, as we were not sure we could make the steep climb, and with the unmarked trail, we were concerned with the possibility of getting lost in the woods (and who knew if our phones would have a signal once we got deeper into the woods!).

The book comes to a climactic conclusion at the old Hyde Homestead (p. 167), where the criminals have rushed off to after leaving Nancy and some of her friends trapped in a cavern.  When asked here the homestead is, Nancy explains, "It's a beautiful mansion which stands on a high hill" just past Glimmerglass Park (p. 168).  Interestingly, George explains to Nancy that she informed the local police that she overheard the criminals say they were heading to the Hyde Homestead, and "the officer got in touch with the State Police, who decided to investigate the empty buildings at the Hyde Homestead" (p. 167).  Pam and I easily found the Hyde Homestead (a/k/a Hyde Hall), and it does indeed stand empty.  It appears there is work being done to the property, but according to their website, it opens back up at the end of May!  And something to note is that from Hyde Hall, you get an absolutely stunning view of "Mirror Bay," and you can see across the bay to the place where Aunt Eloise's cabin would have been!

 

 

 

I have to wonder if this book is the one Nancy Drew book with the most real-world locations used for its setting.  It seems that once we arrived in Cooperstown, we kept discovering more and more places in the book that existed in the real world!  I mean, even simple things like Hannah Gruen's concern over the fact that there could be bears in the woods of Cooperstown (pp 3-4) is a factual concern, as evidenced by this sign we ran across during our journeys!

Oh, and I certainly would be remiss if I didn't also mention the Otesaga Resort Hotel of Cooperstown.  Nancy makes a casual reference to the hotel being named after the Indians' original name for the lake (p. 2), but the hotel itself is so grand and beautiful, and it contains so much information about the rich history of the lake and of Cooperstown, it is definitely a place to visit!  Perhaps this may have been the hotel where Adams stayed on her visit to Cooperstown.   A young lady at the front desk was most helpful, especially when we told her about our mission to find all of the locations from the book (she was not even aware that the book featured Cooperstown!).

As our trip came to a close, Pam and I both realized that spending an entire a week in Cooperstown allowed us to discover so much from the book, but we both wished we had another week or two to keep exploring.  We are disappointed that we are not going to be able to share the adventure with our fellow Sleuths during the convention in July, but we can certainly guarantee that everyone who goes is going to have a fantastic time, and you will definitely be able to follow in Nancy's footsteps (literally!!!!) while there.  With so much to check out, so many places to see, and so much exploring to do, you'll barely have time to catch your breath!

RATING:  10 jars of homemade peach preserves out of 10 for being such a marvelous city to inspire an entire Nancy Drew book to be centered around the magnificent locations in and around Cooperstown!

(***Yes, I realize this is not an actual book I'm reviewing, but I can still give the city and our trip there a rating, and quite frankly, it probably more rightfully deserves a 15 out of 10 rating for just how great it really is!)