Gillinder Glass Factory is one of the top ten places to visit within Hudson Valley, with nearly 10 million visitors a year. The factory merges historic procedures with modern technology resulting in glass lenses and domes used around the world.
Gillinder glass products can be found on Black Hawk Helicopters and the mammoth C-5A Galaxy Transports. Nearly 50% of US airport runway lighting fixtures use Gillinder Glass products made in the Port Jervis plant. Gillinder Glass is well known to collectors for producing glass slippers at the first Worlds Fair Centennial Exhibition in 1876. Over 100,000 glass slippers were produced at the 1876 Worlds Fair and still produced for sale at their gift shop.
Three divisions of their facility are a factory, museum and gift store. Tours show visitors the pouring, pressing and cooling of molten glass on the factory floor. Skilled employees conduct demonstrations during regular weekday production. Tours include special glass blowing presentations of their impressive skills and techniques. Look for special weekend events scheduled each month featuring guest artists creating unique glass blown signed collectibles.
Gillinder Glass Factory is located at 39 Erie Street, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Guided tours last 1 hour from Monday to Friday at 10:15 AM, 12:30 and 1:30 PM. Adult admission is $5.00 with reduced rates for seniors, children and groups.
Their gift store is open 7 days a week Monday to Friday 9:30 AM -5:30 PM, Saturday 9:30 AM -4:00 PM, and Sunday 12:00 noon -4:00 PM. A wide selection of beautiful glass items is offered for sale from the Gillinder Glass Factory, so don’t miss this chance to examine its fine crafts.
Port Jervis is a city on the Delaware River in New York State at 442’ elevation with a population of 8,828. It is in the southeast corner of the state, 87 miles northwest of New York City, and 124 miles southwest of Albany NY. Port Jervis is located near the joining of the states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Two monuments under interstate US 84 indicate the boundaries between the three states.
Port Jervis has been an important hub for river and railroad transportation since the 19th century. The city was named for John B. Jervis, chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. A sizeable parade was held in July 2007 celebrating the 100th anniversary of the city’s founding. In August 2008 Budget Travel magazine named Port Jervis one of the "Ten Coolest Small Towns".
Port Jervis is a drive of 4.5 hours and 273 miles from Rochester NY. Drive west on I-90 thruway to Syracuse then south on US 81 to Scranton PA and finally east on US 84 into Port Jervis.
A visitor’s comments give a preview into the Gillinder Glass Factory tour. “It was wonderful to see the worker's in action making one piece of glass work at a time! Cute gift shop with lovely items for purchase.”
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