2011-23 Corning New York

Cuba NY

Corning NY

Corning Glass Museum

Rockwell Museum of Western Art

from around 400 BC

On my way back to my campsite last week I drove along the “Southern  Corridor”, hwy 86.  Passing through the Sovereign Seneca Nation, I noticed that the highway was very poorly maintained.   Later Walt told me that there has been an on going battle between the state of NY and the Indian Reservation.  The Seneca Nation wants to put a toll both between the section of hwy 86 which is on their land, the state is fighting it and during this period, is refusing to perform any work on that section of the highway.  Interesting how there's always more to the story than one would think.

A side trip took me to Cuba Ny where they have the most wonderful cheese store.  Cuba at one time was the world center for Cheddar cheese and the town set the price for Cheddar cheese weekly for the whole country.  Just outside of town is a huge 347 foot long horse barn, built to house the famous stallion "McKinney". It lies empty today, looking for a good owner to come along.

Day trips are great even if your not Rv-ing around the country.  For me it’s always an adventure and this time I was able to go with two friends, Walt and Ben.  We headed out in the morning to Corning Ny.  Corning is still the home and manufacturing site of much of the Corning Glass and they have a large museum devoted to glass.

The town itself looks awesome being on a river.  The downtown area is pretty nice, though there were a fair amount of buildings that were empty, others were being rehabbed including a 4 story brick building getting a facelift both inside and out.  Nice pedestrian park in the center of town as well.  Unfortunately, they have parking meters, always a pain when trying to find a parking spot, especially when one doesn’t have change with them.

The Corning Glass Museum is quite large so I would recommend making sure you have a couple of hours to explore it including taking in a couple of the  glass making shows.  Wonderful displays of ancient glass art going back to 400 BC right up to the present day art pieces on display.  I loved the ancient and most recent art glass pieces and the displays and lighting were just stunning.  A couple of over the top pieces like chandeliers,  glass tables, chairs and Tiffany pieces were just awesome to see.

We also went over to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.  Discount tickets are available when purchasing both the Glass and Western art museum tickets at the same time.  I was impressed with the western art museum, having visited a number of them out west.  Nice to see such a high quality collection of western art on the east coast.  Brought me right back to the area of the country I’ve enjoyed so much time in.

my favorite painting at Rockwell Museum,
The Morning Shower, by Frank  Johnson

I’m on my last few days in this part of NY and will be heading across the top of Ohio and  Elkhart Indiana on my way to Michigan to visit with my sisters once again.  We’ve been having some great weather here in NY and hope everyone else is enjoying the summer as well.  With doors and windows open to capture the cool breezes.  We’ve even had a couple of days of rain which is always appreciated by the farmers in the area.

More pictures as always on Picasa.