ted the location
of the Griffin house. He placed it at the southeast corner of Main and
River streets, when he meant to say _northwest_. That Cooper writing of
what was perfectly familiar to him, should have overlooked so palpable
an error, seems most improbable; yet that he did so is now beyond doubt,
although for many years his authority was cited to disprove the claims
of the oldest house in Cooperstown. At the time of Cooper's writing, the
house standing nearest to the southeast corner of Main and River
streets, afterward torn down, had been built by Richard Cooper, and
never had belonged to the Ernst family. Furthermore, in a letter dated
May 23, 1805, Rev. John Frederick Ernst, in reply to an inquiry
concerning the location of his property in Cooperstown, wrote to his
son--"Here is a copy from the deed: 'The house-lot--being the northwest
corner of Water Street and Second Street, is seventy-five feet front on
the said streets, and seventy-five feet in rear on the west and north by
[then] vacant lots, belonging [then both] to Wm. Cooper, Esq.'" It is
clear that this is the same property which Fenimore Cooper, by some
slip, described as being at the southeast corner. Some of the earlier
charts of Cooperstown were drawn with the lake front at the bottom of
the map, for convenience of reference, thus reversing the north and
south of the usual cartography. It may plausibly be conjectured that
Cooper had one of these maps before him as he wrote, and unthinkingly
recorded, in this instance, its transposed points of the compass. This
labored exposition of a small matter would be an inexcusable pedantry,
except that the location of the oldest house in the village is of
particular interest.]

CHAPTER V

A VILLAGE IN THE MAKING

The county of Otsego was formed February 16, 1791, being carved out of
Montgomery county. Cooperstown was designated as the county seat, and
William Cooper was appointed the first judge of the county court. A
court-house and jail was built at the southeast corner of Main and
Pioneer streets, the lower story, of logs, being used as a prison, and
the upper story, of framed work, as court room. A tavern was erected on
the same lot, and contained the jury rooms, conveniently near to the
sources of refreshment.

During the summer of this year the Red Lion Tavern[61] was erected at
the southwest corner of Main and Pioneer streets, and was kept by Major
Joseph Griffin. It projected more than ha