Corning, a city in New York’s Steuben County on the Chemung River, is inching toward the mark of eleven thousand residents. Named for financier Erastus Corning, the town is in the Finger Lakes region, and it appears everyone has realized the area has exceptional wine and food.

But they have so many other amazing things to see and do. Let me give you a taste of things to enjoy in Corning and surrounding Steuben County. With the help of some fellow travel writers, we will highlight some hidden gems you will want to explore on your visit to Corning. So read on as Kat Anderson, Kathleen Walls, Kris Grant, and I (Jo Clark) share some secrets!

The Corning Museum of Glass

My friend Kat says that she was elated when she learned the opening ceremony for the International Food, Wine, and Travel Writers Association conference was taking place at The Corning Museum of Glass. I’ll let her tell you more.

From the first time I laid eyes on a hand-blown glass ring, I was in love with the art of glassblowing. It was a red and gold Murano glass ring, gifted to me by a friend who had recently visited Italy.

I’ve been enamored with glass jewelry, artwork, and sculptures ever since. I even tried my hand at glassblowing, making a wine glass. Every look at my unique, lopsided wine glass reminds me of the skill needed. But I love it because I made it with my own two hands and there isn’t another one like it anywhere in the world. Perhaps that’s what draws me to glass art; every piece is unique.

When the opportunity arose to visit the world’s largest glass museum, I promptly marked my calendar. A glassblowing demonstration during the conference’s opening ceremony was a treat. We watched in awe as two skillful artists melted and molded clear glass into a stunning dragon goblet. It was truly mesmerizing to watch them work their magic.

The Corning Museum of Glass houses the world’s most extensive glass collection. Their exhibits range from Ancient Egypt to the present day. The Contemporary Glass Galleries feature more than 70 works from the Museum’s permanent collection. You’ll also find the historic 35 Centuries of Glass Galleries on permanent display. It showcases the most comprehensive and celebrated glass collection in the world.

Alongside the Museum’s permanent collections, there are temporary exhibits that ensure no matter how many times you visit, there’s always something new to see. Fire and Vine: The Story of Glass and Wine was my favorite of these exhibits. It highlights the history of wine glasses and bottles through the ages. As an avid wine lover, I found it truly fascinating to see the evolution. This temporary exhibit is currently on display until January 2025.

The Innovation Center, an interactive science and technology exhibit, was another area I enjoyed exploring. Filled with activity stations, you can bend light, bend glass, and even step on the floor to turn an opaque wall transparent. While this area may have been designed originally with children in mind, it appeals to the child inside each of us. It brings the science of glass to life in a fun and engaging way.

The Corning Museum of Glass is so much more than a museum. It is a place to be wowed, inspired, and to play. They have hot glass and flameworking demonstrations and offer glassblowing classes where you can make your own piece of glass art. The experiences available are hot glassworking, fusing, engraving, and sandblasting.

If you find yourself in Corning, visit The Corning Museum of Glass. There’s no better souvenir than one you made yourself. Jo, I believe you told me that you tried the art of glassmaking, right? What did you think?

The Art of Glass Blowing

Glassblowing is assuredly an art, but it is easier than it looks (with the right coach!) My first attempt at the Hands-on Glass shop in Corning didn’t actually include “blowing,” but it did include a lot of pulling and folding. Sweating away in front of furnaces, creating a material that rivals volcanic lava, I found myself humming a favorite Beach Music tune with lyrics about being “sweeter than candy, hotter than heat!” Funny, the things that pop into your mind.

The molten glass had to be pulled outward with special gigantic “tweezers” and then folded back onto itself. Imagine a wad of bubble gum and stretching it out until it thins, then folding it into the remaining chunk in your mouth. Josh, my “gaffer,” was patient and didn’t mind repeating himself. He wanted everyone to understand the process and enjoy learning and creating an individual piece. There are specific places to stand and to sit as you work on your piece, and Shawn made sure I hit my marks.

My project at Hands-on Glass was a heart-shaped paperweight with many swirls of purple and magenta. At least, that’s what I hope I have. Creating a glass object heated to 2,000 degrees means everything is heated to an orange glow. I won’t see my heart for a few more days because the shop shipped it to my home.

Rodi Rovner founded and owns Corning’s first public access non-profit glass studio. She was packing up for an event in Pennsylvania but took the time to talk with us before pulling out. My partners on this press trip made a cute-as-pie blown-glass apple and an adorable pumpkin to enjoy throughout the fall season.

After completing my creation, Josh placed it in a cooling oven to cool gradually. If it cools too quickly, the risk of cracking is high. Think of those childhood projects, heating marbles in a skillet and then dipping the orbs of glass into ice water for an intricate crackle design.

My visit to the Corning Museum of Glass Studio led to a second attempt at a glass project. It is a single-flower blossom on a cobalt blue curled stem. Its petals are shades of clear, blue, white, and yellow.

I started with a “tube” of hot glass and, using metal pinchers, pulled outward at equal distances around the tube. Then the glass was heated again—it cools faster than you can imagine—and I repeated the process. Finally, a pleasing series of petals appeared. My instructor and I had a hometown connection, too. She was raised in Myrtle Beach! Again, you cannot see your project until it is completely cooled, so I’m excited to open that package when I return home.

The creation process may have been a little easier for me since I’m a lifelong artist and crafter, but I assure you that you, too, can create a fragile work of art.

Heritage Village of the Southern Finger Lakes

One thing you don’t expect to find in Corning is a 1796 tavern, originally known as the Painted Post Tavern, a log cabin from the 1850s, a historic inn, and an 1870s blacksmith shop…all in one place. And yet, you find all this and more at the Heritage Village of the Southern Finger Lakes. The restored log cabin holds a kitchen, pantry, dining room, and even a pub/post office/jail. It is in the loving care of the Corning Painted Post Historical Society, and you can arrange a property tour.

There is a one-room schoolhouse from 1878 with a great-sounding bell (yes, of course, I rang it…teacher here!). And there is an 1870s blacksmith shop. The shop eventually evolved into a garage for automobiles. Still, when it finally closed its doors, the CPPHS moved it to the Village. As it turned out, the man still had all the farrier tools and was delighted to see it restored to its original smithy glory.

The Heritage Village continues to collect local historical information and artifacts. It holds special events, including blacksmith demonstrations and yarn carding, spinning, and weaving. There are even dinners on occasion. As Dave DeGolyer of Explore Steuben says, “Corning’s living history museum is old-school cool.”

The Walkable Historic Gaffer District of Corning

A “gaffer” is the term for a master glassblower. Having done some glasswork, I can safely say nobody will call me a gaffer! My friend Katy Walls will tell you about this lovely historic area of Corning, sandwiched between the town’s main streets and the river.

Katy says: I recently visited the charming town of Corning, and I’m so glad I did. Sure, it’s known for its world-class museums like the Corning Museum of Glass and The Rockwell Museum, but there’s so much more to discover.

In the Gaffer District, I discovered The Art of Industrious Minds in an alley between the Rockwell Museum and the Radisson Hotel. It honors all the factors that created Corning, including agriculture, railroad, glassmaking, and more.

The Art of Architecture in Downtown Corning

The architecture of Historic Market Street boasts a vibrant tapestry of galleries, glass studios, antique shops, boutiques, and an array of eclectic eateries. Many are housed in architectural masterpieces from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Resident artist Megan O’Toole led our group on a tour through town, weaving captivating tales of the histories etched into the foundations of these majestic structures. She told us that a third of them are now art-related galleries or shops. To book a walking tour with Meghan, email her for more information on her tours.

One architectural concept we saw repeated in Corning was the Egg & Dart pattern, an ornamental motif alternating oval shapes (the “eggs”) and arrow-like elements (the “darts”). The egg symbolizes creation or birth; the “dart” or “arrow” represents death and dates to Greek and Roman architecture.

A tall red-brick beauty with decorative details and a name inlaid into the structure caught my eye. The Romanesque-style Henkle building was the tallest in New York State’s western region in 1893. Other buildings along that side of the street also had Henkle Block emblazoned on them.

On the next block, a buff-colored brick, three-story Victorian Romanesque building with black trim has Ansorge Block engraved on the cornice. The Ansorge brothers were Jewish immigrants from Hamburg and had a clothing store in the building.

A century-old city hall now houses the Rockwell Museum. The building, with multiple towers, is a work of art. Artemus the Bison, created by Tom Gardner, is crashing through the front wall.

Many of the buildings have animals on them. There are griffins, believed to be good luck, birds, owls, and other creatures. One unique art-like structure Megan pointed out called a bird’s nest, a bay window on the second floor over Market Street Coffee and Tea Shop. Megan said the owner, Pam, loved it and painted it vibrant maroon and gold like a Painted Lady.

Corning Glass Entrance

One striking piece of art is the Corning Glass Works Riverfront Plaza Arch, welcoming visitors to Corning’s headquarters. It preserves elements of the company’s former headquarters, constructed in 1925. The red brick arch shelters a priceless Frederick Carder Aurene mosaic created of terracotta, glass, and gold Aurene art glass.

Buechner Park

Buechner Park, named in honor of the late Thomas S. Buechner, founding director of the Corning Museum of Glass, is home to Jack Knife, a nearly 5-foot-tall bronze sculpture by Arizona-based Ed Mell depicting an iconic cowboy riding a bucking horse. The park is two short blocks from the Rockwell Museum.

Also in this park is the Tree of 40 Fruits. This living art piece will ultimately bear 40 different types of fruit, including varieties of apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, and plums. Sam Van Aken created the tree by grafting many varieties of stone fruit into a single trunk in October 2018.

Northside

One of the first things that caught my eye was the vibrant mural on the Brick Bar. Painted by local artist Brett Steves, it’s a trompe l’oeil masterpiece that makes you do a double-take.

That brick building was home to a popular bar called That Other Place for years. The arches painted on the brick frame views of the Chemung River and the Little Joe Tower. The locals painted in the faux windows are so realistic you fear the guitar player might fall out.

Plaques along the way honor Corning’s history, including one with the gaffer blowing out a piece of molten glass.

Rockwell Museum Alley Art Project Murals

Students who work with the guidance of educators through the Rockwell Museum Alley Art Project painted beautiful murals. Emergence, painted on the front wall of Marconi Lodge Post 47, celebrates youth hero Salem Estrada of the community. The painting symbolizes how young people can inspire others.

A particularly colorful mural on Bridge Street’s north side is Life in a Tapestry on the side wall of Pudgies Pizza.

Earth Mother is an eerily modernistic mural at the Carey’s Brew House parking lot just a short distance down Bridge Street. And, there are more than murals for the art lover in Corning.

There is so much more to see there. You should visit Corning yourself and enjoy the beauty. Jo, what else did you discover in Corning?

West End Gallery

Speaking of walking, Corning is a very walkable town. The Buildings Alive Tour of the Gaffer District is a self-guided walking tour of Market Street, complete with markers and QR codes. A group of us had dinner reservations downtown. Naturally, we were much too early, so we walked and took in the city’s ambiance at dusk. As we walked along, I quickly spotted the “Opening Reception” sign propped outside the West End Gallery, and away I went. It could have also been a party celebrating the business’s 47th year—an excellent record for a small-town gallery.

This two-floor gallery contained paintings, ceramics, carved wood, glass, and jewelry. Talented artists Ileen Kaplan and Gina Pfleegor were there, chatting with visitors admiring their works. The gallery mainly holds works by local artisans.

A harpist played upstairs at the top of an open stairway, and the melodic sounds of her strings carried throughout both floors. There were tasty treats from the Old World Café to be enjoyed by guests, and with dinner an hour away, I just saw that as the appetizer course to my evening. *smile*

Rockwell Museum

The Rockwell Museum is a massive collection of American West art collected by Bob and Hertha Rockwell. You thought this was going to be about Norman, right? Sorry to disappoint, but that Museum is 150 miles east of Corning, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

These Rockwells owned a local department store they filled with the private collection of art they collected. In 1974, the couple combined forces with some Corning Glass Works executives and developed the public Museum, which opened to visitors in 1976. I especially enjoyed the massive Old West paintings and the Remington Gallery.

The prominent building is difficult to miss, with its towering Bison making a crashing escape through the second-floor wall. The Museum held a contest to name the iconic piece, and a young boy said art is a must—so call him “Artemus.” What a clever boy!

The Rockwell is an affiliate of the Smithsonian, which is mutually beneficial, as it gives both museums access to art owned by the other. The Museum also shares pieces with local galleries like the Arnot Art Museum. When we visited, gallery workers were busy removing a group of William Wegman’s Weimaraner photographs to set up a new installation. New installations happen several times yearly, keeping the galleries fresh and inviting.

A Historic Tour on the 100-year-old Pat II

Cruising around Keuka Lake on the Pat II was the perfect way to spend a sunny autumn morning. The lake was smooth as glass, and the Captain knew the story of each house along the lake. There is even one with a full-size helicopter landing pad above the boathouse. As we motored along, the Captain related the history of the area and its unique geological features.

Starting in 1924, when Pat II’s keel was laid, she spent almost seventy years operating as a tour boat, lunch tour boat, and mail boat. Left to languish for fifteen years, the Finger Lakes Boating Museum in Hammondsport finally rescued the antique boat. It brought Pat II to the newly opened Museum.

Today, after six plus years and 16,000 hours of labor, the Pat II is beautifully rebuilt and still cruising Keuka Lake. Tour groups board the restored arts and crafts era boat at the Hammondsport dock. She glides quietly through her duties, though, thanks to her new fully electric motor.

Buildings built of local stone, formerly used by the Taylor Winery, now house the Finger Lakes Boating Museum. The Museum is breathing new life into the buildings and the historic boats.

The Glenn H. Curtiss Museum

In the Finger Lakes hamlet of Hammondsport, native son Glenn H. Curtiss is a local hero fondly called the “Father of Naval Aviation” and “The Fastest Man on Earth.” My fellow travel writer Kris Grant says she soon found photographs of his accomplishments adorning the Park Inn restaurant walls and the local ice cream parlor walls. Murals outside the Hammondsport Grocery Store also sport the face of this Hammondsport native. I’ll let Kris tell you about it in her words.

The true gem of this town on pretty Keuka Lake is the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum. It contains a priceless collection of early aviation aircraft and extensive collections of antique boats, automobiles, bicycles, and motorcycles.

The Museum also features a 75-seat theater, a large open area for special events, and a museum gift store. Visitors are encouraged to visit the adjacent Restoration Shop to talk with volunteer artisans and watch as they restore historic aircraft.

The Early Years

Glenn’s love of bicycles began in 1893 while living in Rochester. He first learned to ride on a high-wheeled bicycle while working at the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company (later Eastman Kodak). He later bought a lower, safer bike. He worked as a Western Union Telegraph messenger, frequently racing with other messengers and making weekend 70-mile Rochester-to-Hammondsport rides. Curtiss’s mechanical abilities became evident at the Eastman plant: he invented a stencil machine and later a rudimentary camera.

Soon, Glenn was working at the local bike store in Hammondsport’s village square. He loved bikes, both racing and repairing them.

By the time Glenn was 19, he had fallen in love and needed to generate a more significant income. When Glenn turned 20, he and local Lena Nuff married. A year later, he opened his Hammondsport bike shop.

Curtiss Revs Up With the 20th Century

As the 20th Century roared into being, so did Curtiss. In 1900, he began experimenting with motorcycles, building the fastest machines available, using a lightweight combustion engine of his design. In 1902, he founded the Curtiss Manufacturing Company and began marketing his motorbikes commercially.

By 1903, he was crushing the famous Indian and Harley Davidson motorbikes in competitions. The Museum displays several antique Indians and Harleys, among many other early motorcycles.

On January 7, 1907, Curtiss set an all-time high-speed record of 136.36 miles per hour on a 40-horsepower, V-8-powered motorcycle in Ormond Beach, Florida. Newspapers dubbed him “the fastest man on Earth.”

Flying Machines

At the same time Curtiss was speeding up, he was also looking up–into the air. In 1904, a balloonist, Tom Baldwin, created a small pedal-motorized powered airship. Today, we refer to that airship as a dirigible. Then, he made a larger one for other companies and decided to build his own airship. He turned to Curtiss to help him power it. The cigar-shaped hydrogen-filled “California Arrow” used a Curtiss seven-horsepower Hercules motorcycle engine to propel it.

When he was 60, Alexander Graham Bell became interested in “heavier than air” crafts, and his wife, Mabel, urged him to recruit younger men to join him. Thus, Alec Bell came calling on Curtiss in 1907. Their third design was the June Bug, and on July 4, 1908, Curtiss flew the plane 5,080 feet to capture the Scientific American Trophy and its cash award. This flight is acknowledged to be the first publicly announced, officially witnessed “heavier-than-air” flight in America. This win skyrocketed Curtiss into fame.

Automaker Henry Ford tried to help Curtiss, lending him a legion of attorneys to fight the Wright patent battles and providing engines for Curtiss’s machines. There’s a photo of Henry Ford with Curtiss in the Museum.

On November 14, 1910, Curtiss demonstration pilot Eugene Ely flew off a makeshift platform from the deck of the Navy cruiser USS Birmingham. The Navy was interested in Curtiss planes but was even more interested in having him teach Naval officers to fly. At the end of 1910, Curtiss set up an Army and Navy flight training camp in Coronado, California.

Planes, Boats, and RVs

Like Bell, Curtiss’s curiosity led him in many directions. He enjoyed trips to Florida, where he enjoyed hunting and fishing and snared an alligator or two. Curtiss built boats and “Curtiss Aerocars,” some of the world’s first luxury RVs.  Examples of both are on display at the Museum.

Curtiss died July 23, 1930, of complications following an appendectomy. He was only 52. Who knows what he might have invented had he lived another 20 years?

Meanwhile, just over the county line in Chemung County, there is even more to see and do. Chemung County is called the “Gateway to the Finger Lakes,” but it is also known as the home of writer Mark Twain. Chemung’s county seat, Elmira, is full of surprises, too.

Mark Twain’s Study

My friend Kris Grant is Mark Twain’s biggest fan. She was excited to visit his study. I’ll let her tell you about this improbable spot in Elmira, New York, where a Mississippi writer put pen to paper.

Imagine walking inside the room where Mark Twain penned many of American literature’s greatest masterpieces. That’s what I did, and you can too. I visited Mark Twain’s Study, now on the campus of Elmira College. Twain’s study was moved from its home on a bluff overlooking the Chemung River Valley in 1952. I tell you, Mark Twain’s spirit is alive in this beautiful study.

A gift from his sister-in-law Susan Crane, the study is where Samuel Langhorne Clemens worked. Writing under the pen name “Mark Twain,” he penned significant portions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, and A Connecticut in King Arthur’s Court. He created several other works here, including his masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Mark Twain witnessed much of the development of the United States. He lived and worked on the Mississippi River during the heyday of the great steamships. He traveled west first by stagecoach, then aboard the great “Iron Horse,” the train that crossed the plains to the West. He witnessed the Civil War, the abolition of slavery, the Gold Rush, and the advancement of the Industrial Age.

From the Mississippi Delta to Elmira, by Way of the Holy Land

On an ocean voyage to Europe and the Holy Land, Clemens met Charles Langdon of Elmira, New York, and the two became fast friends. Charles showed Samuel a photo of his sister, and Clemens later wrote it was love at first sight. Samuel eventually met Olivia, and on their first date, they attended a reading by Charles Dickens in New York City.

In Clemens’ quest for her hand in marriage, he assured Olivia that he had given up smoking, drinking, and cursing. (Ha!) He also worked to secure the permission and blessings of her parents, the wealthy Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon of Elmira. Olivia turned her suitor down three times before saying yes.

Elmira Becomes One Writer’s Paradise

It was in the summers while visiting Quarry Farm in the southwestern New York town of Elmira that Clemens was most productive. By his own admission, Clemens said he was often distracted in Hartford but was able “to pile up manuscript” at Quarry Farm.

In 1874, Susan and Theodore Crane surprised their brother-in-law with a gazebo-style study built 100 yards above the main house. It overlooked the Chemung River Valley and was designed by an associate with the firm that designed their Hartford home.

That same year, Clemens wrote to William Dean Howells, his lifelong friend and editor: “Susie Crane has built the loveliest study for me you ever saw. It is octagonal with a peaked roof, each octagon filled with a spacious window. It sits perched in complete isolation on top of an elevation that commands leagues of valley and city and retreating ranges of distant blue hills.”

Little did Clemens suspect another reason Susan commissioned the building of the study. Clemens was an avid cigar smoker, and the creation of the study was a clever move to remove the officious cigar smoke from her house while simultaneously delighting the author.

Visiting the Study

The study now sits on a knoll overlooking a small pond at Elmira College. Elmira was a women’s college at the time of Olivia’s graduation in 1864. It stands outside Cowles Hall, where a Mark Twain exhibit lines the hallways.

The study features a latticework frieze, other decorative details, and a full-size fireplace to take the chill off cold mornings or evenings. Small paint pieces were recently uncovered, indicating that the original paint color was grey rather than brown. A renovation project will begin next year to preserve the study further.

Elmira College is also home to the Center for Mark Twain Studies and attracts Twain scholars from around the world. It is one of four historically significant Twain heritage sites in the United States.

Two years ago, I visited the cities where Clemens lived the longest stretches of his life – his boyhood home in the Mississippi port town of Hannibal, Missouri, and the upscale city of Hartford. I was thrilled to visit Elmira this summer and tour his study. When you visit, you’ll find the Mark Twain Study and Exhibit staffed by docents on weekdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There is no entrance charge.

Back to you, Jo.

All I can say about the Twain Study is that when you visit (and you should), you will probably find Kris hovering around for inspiration. After only three days in town, she fell in love with Corning and made an offer on a home, which was accepted. So Corning is now one resident closer to that eleven thousand mark.

Woodlawn National Cemetery

I have researched the men from my home state who served (and died) during the Civil War for many years. Elmira is one of those places I read about, but I did not have a connection to it, except through those POWs. Suddenly, in the middle of a tour of Corning and Elmira, while taking pictures of bucks darting between headstones, I found myself in the center of nearly 3,000 Confederate graves.

New York State chartered Woodlawn Cemetery in 1858. The cemetery consists of 184 acres of paths and avenues with towering trees. The cemetery holds family plots filled with carved marble sculptures and private mausoleums. Howard Daniels designed the cemetery as a park-like “rural cemetery” concept. Daniels was a well-known architect and a top finalist for creating New York City’s Central Park.

Wrought iron fences surround the cemetery, and it is so beautifully maintained that when the United Daughters of the Confederacy arrived to disinter soldiers and return them to their home soil, the women reconsidered. Unlike many other places, the women decided to leave the war dead in Elmira for eternity.

But the story doesn’t end there. The man charged with preparing and burying those soldiers, many from Virginia, was himself from Virginia. And as fate would have it, he was a former enslaved Virginian. The story of John W. Jones has been written in my heart, and now I cannot wait to write it on paper.

Woodlawn National Cemetery was designated a National Cemetery in 1877. The beautiful hillside holds many famous residents, including Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), John W. Jones, a member of Admiral Peary’s North Pole Expedition, the first black recipient of the Heisman Trophy, several Civil War Union Brigadier Generals, a Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Major General, a New York Governor, and a US Representative.

A visit to this cemetery is moving and educational. I’m so glad I didn’t miss it.

John W. Jones Museum

The John W. Jones Museum is small but moving. This display is in the farmhouse once owned by that former slave; the man who buried nearly 3,000 Confederates. His motivation and thoughts are not known. I believe he was a good man, who chose to do good and forgive those caught up in someone else’s struggle.

A former slave, Jones left his Virginia home in the cover of darkness, looking for a better life. He found employment at an Elmira church, and through the kindness of others he learned to read and write. When tasked with burying the prisoners of war who died in the Elmira prison, he kept meticulous records. John Jones treated these men as he would want his family treated, and for that he is gratefully remembered.

Where to Stay in Steuben County

The area has many spots to lay your head, but some suggestions will make your planning a breeze.

The Radisson Hotel Corning – The Radisson is a block from downtown, making it convenient. They have comfortable rooms and will bend over backward to meet your every request (tell Aubrey and Anel at the desk I said “hi”!) There is a breakfast buffet, which is free if you’re a Choice Hotels member of a certain level.

Park Inn – The Park Inn is the oldest building on Hammondsport’s Village Square. Built and used as an inn since the 1850s, it was remodeled in 2018. Inn owners also own the Park Inn Restaurant right next door, and their Crooked Lake Ice Cream Parlor serves breakfast nearby. Quiet after 10 pm when the music downstairs stopped, and the door at the street level remains locked at all times. There is a flight of stairs, and you will carry bags since all rooms are on the second floor.

Where to Stay in Chemung County

The Hampton Inn Elmira – An excellent choice for your stay, the Hampton Inn is only 3 miles from the airport and 12 miles from Corning. Again, there are comfortable rooms and friendly folks. You can expect the usual breakfast buffet and those delicious muffins each morning.

Or you can always buy a house, like Kris! (Best souvenir EVER!)

Where to Eat (and Drink!) in Corning and the Finger Lakes

Yes, dear readers, you know me well. I’m all about finding delicious wine and scrumptious food wherever I go. There are articles in the works outlining both topics, so check here for the links to those puzzle pieces. I will give you one hint, just to tantalize you. On a visit to Domaine LeSeurre Winery, it is possible to have an oh-so-special Signature Wine Pairing with French Macarons. When you are ready to drool on your keyboard, click that link and read on.

Plan Your Next Trip

For more exciting trips, try some of my favorite locations. Plan your own trip to Corning and the Finger Lakes to visit as many wineries for tastings as possible, or make a road trip from the Roanoke Valley of Virginia to North Carolina’s beautiful Yadkin Valley Wineries. Or jet off to the breathtaking Azores!

Writers who contributed to this article are: Kat Anderson, Kathleen Walls, Kris Grant, and Jo Clark