"Council Rock is a glacial deposit that rises just above the surface of Otsego Lake at the headwaters of the Susquehanna river. From here the Susquehanna flows over 400 miles through New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland before meeting the Chesapeake Bay. It is believed to have been a meeting place for Native Americans prior to the Revolutionary War.
In 1937 a short flight of stairs and a landing at the edge of the lake was built by the Cooperstown Lake and Valley Garden Club. Twenty years after that a piece of land was given by Paul F. Cooper, grandson of James Fenimore Cooper, to form Council Rock Park."