VERITAS Observations of the Vicinity of the Cygnus Cocoon

The study of $gamma$-ray emission from galactic sources such as supernova remnants (SNR) may provide key insights into their potential role as accelerators of cosmic rays up to the knee ($sim 10^{15}$ eV). The VERITAS Observatory is sensitive to galactic and extragalactic $gamma$-ray sources in the 100 GeV to 30 TeV energy range. We report here on VERITAS observations of the vicinity of the cocoon of freshly accelerated cosmic rays reported by Fermi, which lies between potential accelerators in the Cygnus OB2 association and the $gamma$-Cygni SNR. A particular focus is placed on the source VER J2019 +407 in $gamma$-Cygni.