We recently took an overnight trip from Rochester to nearby Hammondsport NY, and one of our main goals was to visit this museum. I thought it would be an interesting stop for an hour, but it was even better than I expected, and we stayed much longer!
The museum was not at all crowded around noon on a Saturday in June, although groups kept wandering in and out. There is plenty of parking available in the lot. We were very courteously welcomed at the front desk and given tips on how to tour the museum. Although we wandered a bit first, we found ourselves in the museum's center theater, were a documentary about Glenn Curtiss plays on an endless loop. We wound up stay for the entire showing (50-60 mins). I won't go into Curtiss's entire history here, but suffice to say that he was an inventor who had a role developing motors for bicycles, motorcycles, early RVs...and planes. The Wright Brothers may have been first in flight, but Curtiss quickly surpassed them in his achievements, including the first flight from Albany NY to New York City.
The museum is built around Curtiss' many achievements. It is a large warehouse type space with numerous vehicles included, some original, some replicas. (Many of the displays contain mannequins of Curtiss and some of the other key figures; I wasn't crazy about these, as they looked somewhat fake and seemed unnecessary.) There is also a section for children with interactive activities as well as a surprisingly large (and reasonably priced) gift shop. Overall, I think that this museum is worth a visit for anyone, but especially those with an interest in aviation and American history.