Cooper, James Fenimore - Cooperstown, NY

James Fenimore Cooper

Cooperstown, NY

N 42° 41.895 W 074° 55.342

The grave of James Fenimore Cooper is located in Christ Church graveyard at Church and Fair Streets in Cooperstown, NY. It is marked by a 7' by 3' rectangular stone slab supported a few inches off the ground, often called a false tomb, next to his wife Susan Augusta, in the graveyard of Christ Church in Cooperstown, NY. The stone covering his grave has a raised cross and the incised inscription:

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

BORN SEP 15 1789

DIED SEP 14 1851

Inscription

James Fenimore Cooper was born on September 15, 1789 in Burlington, New Jersey. His family moved to what became Cooperstown, NY when he was one year old and he lived there the remainder of his life. He inherited wealth and married Susan Augusta De Lancey. He was looking for a way to occupy himself when his wife challenged him to write a book. The result was The Spy: A Tale of Neutral Ground published in 1821.

In 1923 he wrote The Pioneers which evolved into his most famous work, a five book series with the main character being Natty Bumppo, called The Leatherstocking Tales. which included The American Democrat (1838), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Pathfinder (1840), and The Deerslayer (1841). He then turn his efforts to to naval history and wrote The History of the Navy of the United States of America (1839), The Cruise of Sommers (1844), and The Distinguished American Naval Officers (1846) which contained the biographies of Commodores William Bainbridge, Richard Somers, John Shaw, William Shubrick and Edward Preble.

In 2013, James Fenimore Cooper was inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame.

Setting