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Which real place inspired the fictional town of Templeton in The Pioneers?
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James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper, painting by John Wesley Jarvis, 1822; in the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York.
The fictional town of Templeton in the novel The Pioneers was inspired by Cooperstown, New York, which was the author's boyhood village.1
In the novel, James Fenimore Cooper utilized many of the inhabitants of his childhood home as inspiration for his characters. Specifically, his father, William Cooper, served as the model for the character Judge Temple.1