Who was the real Natty Bumppo? For more than 100 years, historians in both Hoosick Falls and Cooperstown have attempted to demonstrate they are home to the man who was the inspiration for a number of characters in James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales. Was it David Shipman of Fly Creek, NY or Nathaniel Shipman of Hoosick Falls? WAMC recently sat down with our own Joyce Brewer to tackle this question on the A New York Minute in History podcast.
Read the article and listen here, then leave your comments below. Do you believe it was Nathaniel, David, or perhaps both men who inspired the characters of Leatherstocking lore?
Hoosick Falls Historical Society 