Although Cooperstown, N.Y., might be a short trip from the highways and interstates, traveling along the single-lane roads bordering Lake Otsego is also a journey of the imagination, where fact and fantasy, history and legend merge together in a central point.

Cooperstown's three major museums blend American history and American legend-whether it involves displays of the mighty home run prowess of Henry Aaron or Babe Ruth; a recreated 1845 town built around a stone giant; or an art museum honoring America's great novelist, James Fenimore Cooper.

Field of Dreams

For over 70 years, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has drawn baseball fans worldwide to see historical artifacts from such legendary ballplayers as Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, Nolan Ryan and Ted Williams. It's also the home for the Hall of Fame, where 258 bronze plaques, each featuring the image of a legendary baseball player and his career statistics, make an impressive wall display.

The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was first conceived in 1935. Based on a legend that General Abner Doubleday, a Cooperstown resident, invented the game of baseball in 1839, National League President Ford C. Frick proposed that a Hall of Fame be established in Cooperstown, as a way to honor the greats of the game.

IWhile construction began on the new facility, several legends of the sport were selected for induction in this new Hall of Fame. The first five inductees-pitchers Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson, outfielders Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, and shortstop Honus Wagner-were elected by a panel of baseball writers in 1936. Finally, in 1939, just in time for baseball's centennial year, the completed Hall of Fame opened its doors to the public.

Today, thousands of baseball fans from around the world visit the Hall of Fame Gallery.

"I've always been a Yankee fan," said Gerald Lardo of Staten Island, wearing a souvenir baseball jersey sporting the No. 4 of his favorite player, Lou Gehrig. "Gehrig was the greatest player that ever played the game-Babe Ruth put baseball on the map, but Gehrig was just fantastic. This is the first time I've been to the Hall of Fame in over 25 years, my parents took me the first time, and I've always wanted to come back."

And in an effort to honor those ballplayers who served their country in times of war and national emergency, special military service markers have been added to the Hall of Fame plaques of such war heroes as Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. "Our veterans are very precious to us," said Howie Wrench, an education associate at the Hall of Fame. "We wanted to honor them in that way."

Since 1939, numerous balls, bats, uniforms, caps, gloves and other memorabilia from the game have been gathered and displayed inside the Museum. There's a wing devoted to Negro League baseball; another area chronicles a century of World Series highlights. Several artists have integrated a baseball motif into their paintings and sculptures; many of them are on display in a special art gallery.

IEven recent treasures from the 2003 World Series are on display. Josh Beckett's World Series road jersey, the same uniform in which he pitched a five-hit shutout that helped the Florida Marlins win the 2003 World Series, is up for view. Other artifacts on display from the recent Fall Classic include Hideki Matsui's bat (with which he hit the first World Series home run by a player of Japanese descent) and Marlins manager Jack McKeon's baseball cap, as the oldest manager to ever win a World Series.

Just up Main Street from the Hall of Fame is Doubleday Field, a traditional 9,800-seat stadium with home run-enticing dimensions (296 feet to left, 312 to right, 390 to center with a 20-foot high wall). Two major league teams play an in-season exhibition game at Doubleday Field during Induction Week, while high school squads, college teams, amateur clubs and minor league teams all use the facility during the rest of the year.

Giant Rural Dreams

The Farmer's Museum is a recreated 19th-century rural New York village, and is a short drive on State Route 80 from the Baseball Hall of Fame, traveling along Cooperstown's picturesque Lake Road.

The buildings at the Farmer's Museum are all original structures that could be found in any New York pioneer village or hamlet during the 1840's-in fact, every building on site was carefully relocated from its original New York locations, and reassembled together as a single visitable village.

Life throughout the Farmer's Museum is portrayed by hired "interpreters" to recreate a typical central New York day in 1845. A newspaper editor creates a biweekly newspaper, using original

Getting There: Baseball Hall of Fame

Inducted in 2004: