Ithaca Tourist Attractions
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Located at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca offers many recreational opportunities. Ithaca College was founded in 1892 as a conservatory of music. It offers drama and music presentations as well as an art gallery.
Sciencenter
The Sciencenter in Ithaca offers interactive exhibits and programs that engage and educate visitors. The Sciencenter is the worlds' first community-built science center featuring more than 250 hands-on exhibits in four exhibit galleries, an outdoor science park, the Curiosity Corner for preschoolers, an animal room, and a seasonal miniature golf course. The Sagan Planet Walk is an educational walking model of the Solar System. The museum within the Sciencenter is also home to the region's only inland marine touch tank with a live tide pool including sea stars, pencil sea urchins and scarlet hermit crabs.
Taughannock Falls State Park
The Taughannock Falls have a drop of 215 feet and trails follow the edge of the gorge, which reach 350 to 400 feet high. Taughannock State Park also features hiking and nature trails, tent and trailer sites, cabins, picnic areas, beach swimming, fishing, playground areas, a marina launching site, ice-skating, sledding, cross-country skiing and an annual summer concert series.
Stewart Park
Stewart Park was originally part of the James Renwick estate. This park features tennis courts, a playground with several play structures including a carousel, athletic fields, a duck pond, a spray pool, a municipal golf course, and a bird sanctuary.
Cornell University
Located at Cornell is the Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art, Triphammer Bridge, Anabel Taylor Hall, and Lua A Minns Memorial Gardens. Campus tours are available daily, departing from the main lobby.
Sapsucker Woods
The home of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology research center, it features four miles of sanctuary trails. Many nesting and migrating birds are found throughout the trails. The Observatory overlooks a bird-feeding garden. Paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes are on display.
Cornell Plantations
Cornell Plantations include a 50-acre botanical garden, a 150-acre arboretum and natural areas surrounding Beebe Lake, Fall Creek, and Cascadilla Creek.
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
The collections at the Herbet F. Johnson Art Museum include artifacts, paintings, drawings, and photographs. Notable highlights of the collections include Asian art, 19th and 20th-century American art, as well as graphic arts.
Ithaca Opera
Founded in 1949 as the Ithaca Civic Opera Group to introduce the public to opera. The group chose to produce the first opera in English to draw more people to the production.
The History Center (formerly Tompkins County Museum)
The collections in the History Center reflect the history of Tompkins County, New York, from pre-historic times to the present through artifacts, photographs and documents. The historical society also oversees archives and a reference room.
