The village is located in the town of the same name, northwest of Elmira and west of Tyrone.

Ward Feed Mill Complex are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[2][3][4] Carl Carmer's novel "Genesee Fever," treating of the first white settlements in the region, is set largely in Bath.

[5] In 1804, Captain William Helm, a Virginian, settled in Bath with about 40 slaves, in an attempt to implant the plantation system in New York State.

[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2), all land.

Bath is served by the Bath & Hammondsport Railroad which operates over former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (DL&W) mainline trackage between a connection with Norfolk Southern in Painted Post, and the company's terminus in Cohocton.

The 1960 merger of the Erie and DL&W led to the creation of Erie-Lackawanna which was followed by the elimination of redundant trackage.

The result was a drastic reduction of railroad activity in Bath since traffic could be routed over the parallel ex-Erie mainline through the Canisteo River Valley.

Since then, the Bath & Hammondsport has become a subsidiary of the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville which currently operates the line, though not over any of its original route.