The Glenn H. Curtiss Heritage Trail now marks historic sites in and around Hammondsport, N.Y., where Curtiss worked and developed the innovative motorcycles and airplanes for which he is remembered.
The trail consists of six post-mounted displays marking the following locations:
- The Curtiss bike shop
- The Curtiss factory
- The June Bug flight, the first pre-announced, public flight in the United States
- The Curtiss flying school, where he taught the first American woman aviator, Blanche Stuart Scott, to fly in 1910
- The Curtiss seaplane base, the first in the United States
- Pleasant Valley Cemetery and Curtiss gravesite
According to Glenn Curtiss Museum Executive Director Trafford Doherty, “Glenn Curtiss was the father of naval aviation and the founder of the American aircraft industry. Yet up to this point, there has been virtually no visual reference to this man who is undoubtedly Hammondsport’s most famous son. We hope that local residents will take pride in Curtiss’s accomplishments and that visitors will come to understand the significance of this area to early aviation.”
The Curtiss Heritage Trail is the culmination of a two-year project sponsored by the museum.
Free maps of the Curtiss Heritage Trail are available at the Glenn Curtiss Museum, which is located at 8419 State Rt. 54 in Hammondsport. The museum is open every Monday through Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm and every Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm through Oct. 31. Beginning Nov. 1, museum hours are 10 am to 4 pm daily.
For more information: GlennHCurtissMuseum.org
