Please: what is Corning, NY like??? (New York, Buffalo: homes, neighborhood, school district)

[PennySzymanski]

Hello, my husband recently interviewed for a position in Corning, NY.

My desire is to be closer to family in Buffalo, but due to the lack of jobs and high competition for the jobs in his field we are limited.

I am wondering what is Corning like? Is it super rural? Are there cultural opportunities? Shopping, dining options?

Thanks so much in advance for any insights!

[mycrows]

It's not super rural by my definition. It's a small city. Definitely pretty quiet though. There are some fun events in the summer and some of the best restaurants in the Southern Tier are on Market Street (not as ringing an endorsement as it sounds). I'm assuming you've heard of the Corning Glass Museum. Worth a visit, but probably doesn't add much to the experience of living there. Ditto the Western Museum.

Shopping is located nearby in a place called Big Flats and is basically what you'd find in a standard suburban area. There are some pretty good cultural opportunities to be found in Ithaca, which is about a 45 minute drive. I know some people in Corning go over to Elmira to party but that may or may not be your scene. The Finger Lakes region has some beautiful natural features - lots of good hiking trails around.

The drive to Buffalo from Corning is considerable.

[PennySzymanski]

Hello, thank you for your post.
One question, what do you mean by the drive from Buffalo to Corning is considerable? Is it very long or a do-able day trip? Thanks!

[jblake78728]

It only takes 2.5 hours or less.

[JacksonJeep]

The drive is only about 2.5 hours. Not far at all. Personally I like Corning alot. Close by to Ithaca, Elmira, Williamsport, PA. As well as some stuff in Wellsboro, PA and the Finger Lakes (Wineries!!!). Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Binghamton are all within hours.

[ckhthankgod]

It's doable in a day. You might like the Gaffer District, the nearby wineries and arts based offerings.

Experience Corning, NY

Corning Area Chamber of Commerce Home

Finger Lakes Vacation Packages & Resources - Corning & the Finger Lakes, NY

Corning's Gaffer District - Corning, New York - Shopping - Entertainment - Museums - Food


Corning Museum of Glass | Plan Your Visit

City of Corning*

CPP Website - Home

[ki0eh]

The Corning [Glass Works] Inc. depends on innovation for its survival which in turn depends on keeping a bunch of bright PhD's and engineers and their wives happy enough in the area. So efforts are made to keep shopping, dining, things to do in the area (to the point where Corning bought the Watkins Glen race track one time it went bust). The Gaffer District, which is how downtown is currently branded, has many locally owned shops not expected in a town of 10,000-ish. And as mentioned the standard chains are typically located between Corning and Elmira in the Big Flats/Horseheads area. Wegmans is off the west end of Market Street right in the city limits, and Home Depot and Wal-Mart are in the Gang Mills neighborhood of the town of Erwin on the opposite bank of the Cohocton River from the Village of Painted Post.

The main highway to the northwest (I-390) goes to Rochester but folks often cut over the two lane NY 63 through Batavia to head to Buffalo.

Another area of economic activity that's moving in to the area is natural gas extraction. Although currently the actual drilling in the Marcellus Shale is over the PA border, since the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport is the closest to much of the area, due to the I-86 highway link, and due to the gas formation extending into NY state as well (it's named for the village of Marcellus near Syracuse) many of the services for the gas drillers have already located around Elmira and I'm told the drillers have been hitting bars in Corning as well.

Since Corning Inc. and its spinoff World Kitchen do maintain some production in the area, they are surely happy to see a local source of natural gas again, melting sand to make glass takes quite a bit of energy.

The Corning City School District is much better than average, my niece has been taking several years of Mandarin in high school and will be graduating with an IB. Property taxes in relation to home value are startling even by upstate NY standards. If kids are not in the picture and some commute and country location is tolerable the property taxes are much lower in PA's Northern Tioga school district. Yes the gas fracking trucks can run 24/7 to the well near you for a short period but don't kid yourself, they'll be coming to NY soon enough.

[ckhthankgod]

Good points ki0eh... I've also heard that some of the higher ups send their children to Elnora Notre Dame, which is the closest private HS. I believe some people live in the Horseheads area or even Elmira's Historic Westside neighborhood: "Victorian HOME TOUR and information" - Victorian Homes & Guided Tours. Public & Private tours, Motor Coach Tour Bus, Tour only $12.00 per person. Victorian Experience, Elmira, NY VICTORAN HomeTours.

West Elmira, a suburb, gets some folks. Same with Big Flats.

[PennySzymanski]

WOW, thanks so much for all this great info

[daydreamin71]

In addition to sending their kids to Notre Dame, some also send their kids to the Alternative School for Math and Science in Corning.
Major expansion planned at Alternative School for Math and Science - Corning, NY - The Corning Leader