Discover Hornell

Hornell combines a pedestrian-friendly downtown with parks, trails, and a distinctive chapter in American library history. This gives you a variety of experiences to consider when planning your trip: you can take in the wide Main Street and historic buildings, discover walking and jogging trails, or seek out places with amenities such as a fishing pier and a skatepark. Which of these sides of Hornell appeals to you most may help shape your choice of where to stay.

Main Street and the Carnegie Library

Downtown stretches along a wide Main Street lined with significant historic buildings. Its pedestrian-friendly character makes it a destination in its own right for exploring Hornell. If you enjoy taking in townscapes and architectural history, this offers a different way to experience the area than a trip to one of the parks. Main Street and the historic buildings shape the character of this downtown area.

The Hornell Public Library is a distinctive part of the city’s history. It is one of the 750 surviving historic Carnegie libraries in the United States; a total of 1,689 Carnegie libraries were built there. The building’s design is also associated with a specific name: Edward Lippincott Tilton’s plans for the Hornell Public Library were accepted. Taken together, these details tell the story both of the large number of Carnegie libraries originally built and of Hornell’s library as one of the surviving examples. For travelers interested in architecture and public culture, it offers a concrete reason to include Hornell’s history in their travel experiences.

Parks and trails for a range of interests

Union Square Park is a pedestrian park in Hornell that can be enjoyed year-round. The park can host concerts and events beneath its amphitheater. It thus combines public green space with the option of attending events, without requiring you to plan around a specific date. If you want to add urban green spaces to your travel plans, Union Square Park is a destination in its own right within Hornell.

For longer stretches of exercise, the Shawmut walking and biking trail offers a clearly described route: it is 1.8 miles long and runs from Shawmut Park along the railroad tracks to Webbs Crossing. The trail officially opened in July 2017. Its length and route will help you factor it into your day’s plans; they also indicate that the trail is intended for both walking and biking. If you’re looking for a different way to get moving, Veterans Memorial Park has a marked loop trail for walking and jogging.

Michael Fucci Memorial Park at Shawmut adds several specific amenities to the mix, all in one place. A 0.5-mile illuminated trail runs around the pond. The park also has an accessible fishing pier and an existing skatepark. This gives you a range of interests to consider when choosing activities: a lap around the pond, fishing from the pier, or time at the skatepark. These amenities differ considerably from the longer Shawmut trail and the loop trail at Veterans Memorial Park.

Choose the right focus

When choosing a vacation rental in Hornell, consider which experiences you want to shape your trip. If you’re most interested in exploring downtown and its historic buildings, Main Street can be the focus of your choice of area. For walking, jogging, or biking, the trails described here offer different types of routes: the Shawmut trail is 1.8 miles long, while the trail around the pond at Michael Fucci Memorial Park is 0.5 miles long. If your travel group has varied interests, you can also consider the amenities at Michael Fucci Memorial Park and the event option at Union Square Park. This lets you explore Hornell through its distinct places and activities, rather than limiting your trip to a single focus.

More places to discover: Corning, Hammondsport, Painted Post, Wayland, and Cohocton.

For the broader travel overview: Steuben.