Glenn H. Curtiss Museum

Great museum! The facilities are wide, spacious, tidy and very well kept.

They have activities and an area for kids, which is pretty awesome.

My favorite part was to get to see the workshop where they are reconstructing an aircraft. It's amazing! Also, to see the staff working (on Sunday) and get to talk to them was priceless.

Highly recommended for all ages!

To the museum: I saw an Olmeca head in the back of the house. I can't think of a reason why it was there! The Olmeca civilization is a part of my culture and I was shocked to see it there.

World Class air & motorcycle museum with a local Finger Lakes flare. A "must see" for All locals & def., ALL tourist !

Not sure how much for admission these days(post Covid 19).. A Must See at any price $$.

Let's roll

pjg

Just down the street from the Best Western Hotel is the Glenn H. Curtis Museum. It's dedicated to the memory of pioneer aviator, Glenn H. Curtis who was a resident of Hammondsport.
It's a wonderful place to spend a couple of hours and walk around and take in all the airplane inventions from yesteryear with relating to early aviation and local history.
There are also motorcycles, bicycles, boats, cars, antique tools that were also invented years ago. It's very cool to see how they improved and progressed over the years with each new invention.
The museum also features a 75-seat theater, with a large open area for special events and a newly remodeled Museum Store. I was able to purchase a great sweatshirt, and pick up some cool gifts.
Visitors are also welcomed to visit the Museum Restoration Shop. You can talk with volunteer craftsman and watch them work on historic aircraft.
The staff were all very friendly and knowledgeable. This museum is a definite must if your visiting Hammondsport, NY.

Comprehensive focus on areas history as well as Mr. Curtis. I'd have enjoyed more women history of aviation, cycles etc. Perhaps show history of Camp Cory or area camp history like boy scouts, camp Gorton. Perhaps find camp individuals that had careers in military or aviation?

Awesome museum. Learned so much about Glenn Curtiss and Curtiss motorcycles and aircraft. He really is the first in flight! I highly recommend this museum to anyone. It has so much for young and old.

I arrived early in the morning before they opened, and received a pseudo tour from the very nice lady who was opening up the museum. We shared a ton a info about the area and the history of Glenn Curtiss; quite the treat!! It was very nice to walk around all the aircraft, engines, and cars. In the back lot there is an active restoration project for a P-40

Great museum, staff is kind, gift shop has a bunch of goodies. Some workshop tools you can spin. Kids area has legos that will distract them. If you like planes and motorcycles this is the place to go.

What a great place! you can read all the praise given to Glenn Curtiss by the other reviewers but they are well deserved based on this museum. Definitely start with the movie. It provides the story, history and backdrop to all the displays you will see. Plan on a few hours to really enjoy it.

My daughter and I made a stop in to this very cool museum! We really enjoyed looking through the historical relics from a time long ago.

It was neat to explain a lot of what we were looking at to my daughter, who is 11.

We stopped to grab a picture for the virtual geocache at the end of the driveway. Thanks yelp for bringing us here!

The Glenn H. Curtiss Museum is a required pilgrimage for anyone who is a serious flying buff. The Wrights might have been first, but Curtiss did more for flight in his lifetime than the Wrights. Many of his accomplishments, along with others, are on display in the great museum.

First point, Curtiss was born in Hammandsport, New York, in the Finger Lakes area of Western New York. It's an out of the way place, no doubt, probably an hour and a half south of the New York Thruway, although it's only a few minutes off I-86 from the Bath exit.

It's worth the trip.

Curtiss was a bicycle builder (so were the Wrights) who raced and was always trying to find a way to get more speed and performance. He went on to make and race motorcycles before he was introduced to flying, and the rest is (literally) history.

You'll follow his growth and career path as you walk through the museum.

The museum is on NY 54 and you can't miss it, a Curtiss-built C-46 cargo plane marks the front gate. Read the historical marker as you enter, and there's another marker near the door. As you approach the entrance, note the runway landing lights that line the sidewalk.

Once inside, you'll have a chance to peruse a display of motorcycles, and I was happy to find a piece of home with some Harley-Davidson products on display. I was there when a feature (read: temporary) display of Snoopy and Red Baron was a part of my visit.

Near a replica of Curtiss' "June Bug" (you saw one outside with the marker) is another little piece of home, a miniature car built by A.O. Smith. Also on display is a Curtiss JN-4D, fondly known as a Jenny. It was a plane of choice for barnstormers and the flying circus.

Curtiss designed a 5th wheel RV that is on display, and scattered throughout the museum are Curtiss aircraft and sea planes. You'll find boats, aircraft engines, and a wide variety of automobiles of the Curtiss Era.

Don't miss the Curtiss P-40 with its familiar "shark nose" paint job, parked under camouflage, and next to it is a WWII jeep built by Ford.

Outside, you'll find a caboose from the short line Bath & Hammondsport Railroad, and if you go into Hammondsport (which I recommend) you'll find a depot from the same railroad.

The Curtiss Museum turned out to be far more than I ever expected it to be. I'm a casual fan of aircraft and flying (I'm more of a car guy, actually) but this place was well worth the time to visit.