Eldridge Park in Elmira combines 45 acres of green space with an 11-acre lake; a 1.4-mile loop trail runs around the park grounds. This gives you a clearly defined walk that you can make a focus of your visit. Other highlights within Elmira include the Tanglewood Nature Center and the Mark Twain sites.

Parks and Activities at Eldridge Park

Eldridge Park offers several different ways to stay active: historic rides and walking paths, a skateboarding and bike-riding sports park, and a 9-hole disc golf course. You can plan your visit around the loop around the grounds or one of the other activities. The loop trail has a specific stated length; the other attractions offer different kinds of activities. Some attractions operate seasonally. If a particular activity is important to you, check its current visiting conditions in advance.

Nature Trails and Animal Exhibit

Tanglewood Nature Center has two trail systems and an indoor museum. The exhibit hall includes a darkened forest with preserved native animals, as well as more than 40 species of live animals. The hall thus brings together preserved specimens and live animal species as different parts of the exhibit.

Compared with Eldridge Park, the mix is different: a loop trail with a stated length is one of the park’s features, while Tanglewood Nature Center has two trail systems alongside its indoor museum. If you choose nature attractions based on whether you want trails or an animal exhibit to be the main focus, these offer two different highlights for your stay in Elmira.

Mark Twain at the College and Downtown

The Mark Twain Study and Mark Twain Exhibit on the Elmira College campus are free and open to the general public. The exhibit focuses on Mark Twain’s connection to Elmira College. This makes the college connection a specific highlight for anyone who wants to include a cultural subject in their plans for Elmira.

They are staffed seasonally, and visiting conditions may change. So check the current visiting conditions for the Mark Twain Study and Exhibit before your visit.

Mark Twain Riverfront Park offers a leisurely walk through downtown Elmira. The park is also the venue for Music on the Riverfront. If you want to include the event in your stay, check the event dates in advance. For orientation, these are two different places to visit: the Study and Exhibit are on the Elmira College campus; the Exhibit focuses on Mark Twain’s connection to the college. Riverfront Park, by contrast, offers a walk through downtown and is the venue for Music on the Riverfront. This makes the college connection and park visit easy to distinguish.

Discover more destinations: Pine City, Horseheads.

Go to the main travel overview: Chemung.