Family Fun and Learning in New York (continued)

14) Cooperstown – This charming, bicycle-friendly village is known mostly for the justifiably famous National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Main Street; the museum’s Sandlot Kid’s Clubhouse is hands-on fun for young children and there are week-long summer camps there, too. Check for family-friendly productions at the renowned Glimmerglass Opera House on Lake Ostego; the lake was made famous in James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales.” Also worth a visit is the Farmer’s Museum (a working farm/living history museum circa 1845) and the Fenimore Art Museum, with folk art and a Native American Bark House.

15) Give your regards to Broadway – What better way to introduce the magic of theater than by watching the curtain go up on a Manhattan production? Spend some time reviewing the offerings for appropriateness (musicals are a usually good bet, but not always), then look for less-expensive matinee tickets at one of the two TKTS booths, or try Rush or even Standing Room Only tickets at the box office. At the annual Kid’s Night on Broadway event, ages 6-18 get into some productions free of charge when accompanied by a paying adult.

16) Niagara Falls State Park – Explore the park’s thundering natural wonders by taking a walk near the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls during a Cave of the Winds tour, or even better, get underway on the famous Maid of the Mist boat and don a yellow rain slicker against the pounding water, like millions of visitors before you. The hands-on Niagara Gorge Discovery Center explains the history of the region, and is also the gateway to a network of hiking trails all over the park (four guided hikes are offered in summer.) For part of the year, the Falls bask in multicolored illumination and fireworks at night.  

17)  Fort Ticonderoga National Historic Landmark – Historically important during both the French & Indian and Revolutionary Wars, the fort occupies a strategic overlook on Lake Champlain. In the first American victory of the Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys crossed Lake Champlain from nearby Vermont at dawn and managed to surprise and capture the garrison from the British. Today, costumed reenactors give tours, the Fife and Drum Corps conducts stirring concerts and there are hugely popular annual reenactor Encampments in June and September.

18) Chautauqua Institution – Long recognized as a wonderful opportunity for adult summer education, renewal, recreation and fine arts in a lakeside setting, the Chautauqua also offers an activity-packed Children’s School (ages 3-5,) Group One for rising first graders, the Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs for ages 7-15 and a Youth Activity Center for preteens and teens. Family entertainment and a Young Reader’s book club patterned after the venerable Institution adult book club round out the offerings, so that no one is bored.

19) Brooklyn Botanic Garden – Since 1914, children have signed up to tend individual plots of earth at the oldest children’s garden operated within a U.S. botanical garden. If you don’t live in the New York City area, the BBG also has daily programs for visitors. Summer Science Adventures include studies in ethnobotany, art in nature and ecology. Younger children can enjoy drop-in programs (no registration required) in the year-round Discovery Garden. Sample two-hour weekend programs include making adinkra printed cloth using stamps from gourds, and creating Chinese New Year flower decorations.

20)  Erie Canal Village – A 1840s living history town similar to Farmer’s Village in Cooperstown, this 15-building facility in Rome, New York is constructed where the Erie Canal was first started. The big attraction for kids is a 40-minute horse drawn canal boat ride, just like transportation in “olden times.” Children can sing the Erie Canal Song:

“Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
Giddap 'there gal we've passed that lock,
We'll make Rome fore six o'clock,
So, it's one more trip and then we'll go,
Right back home to Buff-a-lo OH.”