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Old City ParkCity/Region: Dallas-Fort Worth
The city of Dallas' history is preserved in a living museum nestled in 13 wooded acres just south of downtown, known as Old City Park. This historical village consists of 38 buildings and houses, including a working farm, elegant Victorian homes, a school, church and a bank that is alleged to have been robbed by Bonnie and Clyde, all dating from between 1840 and 1910. All the structures in this recreated turn-of-the-century village have been collected from various locations in and
around Dallas, and restored and re-assembled here.
Address: 1515 South Harwood Street, Dallas
Phone Number: (214) 421 5141
Website: www.oldcitypark.org
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm (until 2pm in January, February and August) and Sunday 12pm to 4pm; closed on major holidays
Admission: $7 (adults), $4 (children 4-12)
Sixth Floor MuseumCity/Region: Dallas-Fort Worth
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy is commemorated in the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza where the 1963 shooting took place. Most chilling of the exhibits is the window area in the former Texas School Book Depository building from where sniper Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired the fatal shots at the 35th President's motorcade. The museum also documents Kennedy's life and legacy, featuring more than 20,000 artifacts and a large amount of archival material. A granite marker at the corner of Houston and Main Streets outside shows where Kennedy was assassinated and a memorial stands in nearby John F. Kennedy Plaza. Visitors to the museum can also view the Zapruder film of the assassination.
Address: 411 Elm Street, Dealey Plaza, Dallas
Phone Number: (214) 747 6660
Website: www.jfk.org
Hours: Daily 9am to 6pm; closed Christmas Day
Admission: $10 (adults), $9 (children 6-18). Audio tours are available for an additional $3.50
Fort Worth StockyardsCity/Region: Dallas-Fort Worth
Fort Worth is THE place to experience the romance and mystique of the American Wild West, and the Stockyards National Historic District is the ideal place to start. The district encompasses 15 blocks packed full of exciting 'Cowtown' attractions, from rodeos to cattle drives, country music shows, shops selling genuine cowboy gear, saloons and Texan diners, and the 'Tarantula Train' steam railway on which regular re-enactments of a train robbery are performed. The Stockyard District is also the venue for several annual festivals and western events and home to the world-famous Billy Bob's Honky Tonk.
Address: East Exchange Avenue, Fort Worth
Phone Number: (817) 624 4741
Website: www.fortworthstockyards.org
Hours: Daily cattle drives at 11am and 4.30pm. Various other events at different times
Modern Art Museum of Fort WorthCity/Region: Dallas-Fort Worth
Fort Worth's Modern Art Museum is second only in size to it's counterpart in New York, and is the oldest art museum in Texas, having been chartered in 1892. The museum is housed in an eye-catching building, consisting of five long flat-roofed pavilions atop a 1.5-acre pond, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The museum's permanent collection of modern and contemporary paintings includes works by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg and Pollock. The museum also hosts visiting exhibitions and features a large sculpture collection.
Address: 3200 Darnell Street, Fort Worth
Phone Number: (817) 738 9215
Email Address: info@themodern.org
Website: www.mamfw.org
Hours: Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm; Sunday 11am to 5pm. Closed Mondays and holidays
Admission: $8 (adults); concessions available. Free on Wednesdays, and first Sunday of the month
Cattle Raisers MuseumCity/Region: Dallas-Fort Worth
The museum is dedicated to telling the story of the cowboy and cattle ranching industry of the southwest. Use has been made of talking mannequins, interactive exhibits, authentic artifacts and theater presentations to bring alive the legends and lore of the Wild West, from Texas Rangers to rustlers. The museum also contains the largest collection of branding irons in the world.
Address: 1301 West Seventh Street, Fort Worth
Phone Number: (817) 332 8551
Website: www.cattleraisersmuseum.org
Hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm
Admission: $3 (adults), $1 (children 4-12)
Fort Worth ZooCity/Region: Dallas-Fort Worth
Fort Worth's Zoo is ranked as one of the top five in the United States and is home to more than 5,000 animals living in natural habitat settings like Raptor Canyon, the Koala Outback and Asian Falls. A recently opened new eight-acre section called Texas Wild takes visitors on a journey through the state to see indigenous animals like swift foxes, ocelots and white-tailed deer, including some endangered species. This section includes a mock-up of a Texas town with a restaurant, store, saloon and jailhouse. Another popular diversion here is the chance to try managing a computer-simulated ranch.
Address: Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth
Phone Number: (817) 759 7555
Website: www.fortworthzoo.com
Hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 6pm (April to October); daily 10am to 4pm (winter)
Admission: $10.50 (adults), $8 (children 3-12). Half price on Wednesdays
Cadillac RanchCity/Region: Amarillo
Approaching Amarillo from the west on the 1-40 highway visitors will come across one of America's most noted roadside attractions, conceived and funded by an eccentric local man, helium tycoon Stanley Marsh 3. The Cadillac Ranch consists of 10 finned vintage Cadillac cars, buried nose first in a field about 12 miles (19km) from the town. They have been buried, allegedly, at the same angle as the angle of the sides of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Marsh doesn't seem to mind the ever-increasing amount of graffiti that is spray painted onto the cars by visitors.
Address: On the old Route 66, south of I-40 between exits 60 and 62
Hours: Open 24-hours daily
Admission: Free
Don Harrington Discovery CenterCity/Region: Amarillo
Focussing on physical, earth and life sciences the Don Harrington Discovery Center is set in a 51-acre park with a lake and picnic area. The center boasts more than 100 hands-on activities and a recently renovated Space Theater. There is also an aquarium on site featuring both saltwater and freshwater tanks as well as a botanical garden. Most popular sights here are a Foucault Pendulum, rotating independently of the earth's gravitational pull, a helium technology exhibit and a weather-watch section with a tornado machine.
Address: 1200 Streit Drive
Phone Number: (806) 355 9547
Website: www.dhdc.org
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am to 4.30pm; Sunday 12pm to 4.30pm. Closed Mondays
Admission: $5.50 (adults), $4.50 (children)
Amarillo Museum of ArtCity/Region: Amarillo
The Texas Panhandle's one and only accredited art museum is the Amarillo Museum of Art. The museum has six galleries housing a permanent collection that includes 17th through 19th century European paintings, 20th century modernists, photography, Asian art and Middle Eastern textiles. The museum also offers frequently changing exhibits ranging from contemporary art to the American and European masters.
Address: 2200 South Van Buren Street
Phone Number: (806) 371 5050
Email Address: amoa@actx.edu
Website: www.amarilloart.org
Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday 1pm to 5pm
Admission: Free
Palo Duro CanyonCity/Region: Amarillo
Starting about a million years ago a branch of the Red River carved a massive canyon through the northern Texas plains. The walls of the Palo Duro Canyon plunge down to 1,000ft (305m) at points, exposing the multi-layered colored rock strata. The colors are particularly brightly picked out on the spires and pinnacles that the forces of nature have carved out on the canyon floor. The Palo Duro Canyon State Park is a few miles east of Amarillo, reached via Texas 217 highway. The park offers picnic and camping facilities, a visitor's center with a shop, an amphitheater where shows are staged, and horseback riding trips. The park also has a famous historic site where the last great battle between troops and Indians took place in Texas. In 1874 Colonel Ranald Mackenzie and his 4th Cavalry defeated a large band of Native Americans camped in the canyon and transported them to reservations in Oklahoma.
Address: The park is located about 12 miles (19km) east of Canyon on State Highway 217
Phone Number: (806) 488 2227
Email Address: pdc@palodurocanyon.com
Website: www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/paloduro/paloduro.htm
Hours: Gates are open daily: 8am to 5pm (November to February); 8am to 10pm (March to October)
Admission: $4 (adults), children under 12 are free
Lyndon B. Johnson Space CenterCity/Region: Houston
The visitor's Space Center is attached to the headquarters of America's manned space program, Nasa's 'Mission Control' that directs the space shuttle project and guided the pioneering astronauts. The Space Center, Houston's most popular tourist attraction, is located at Clear Lake, 20 miles (32km) southeast of downtown, off the Gulf freeway I-45. There are numerous wonders to behold at this facility, which both entertains and educates, from a mock-up of a space shuttle to an Imax theater and hundreds of hands-on exhibits. Tram tours run every half hour taking in the highlights, including Rocket Park where retired spacecraft come to rest, Mission Control and even astronauts in training.
Address: 1601 NASA Parkway
Phone Number: (281) 244 2100
Website: www.spacecenter.org
Hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, weekends 10am to 7pm (extended hours in summer)
Admission: $18.95 (adults), $14.95 (children 4-11)
Museum DistrictCity/Region: Houston
Set within a scenic part of central Houston is the city's Museum District, featuring 16 varied and interesting institutions and numerous restaurants set among some lovely green spaces like Hermann Park. One of the highlights in the area is the Byzantine Fresco Chapel on the corner of Branard and Yupon Streets containing 13th century frescoes from Cyprus. There is also a children's museum, contemporary arts museum and the Houston Holocaust Museum. One of the most interesting museums in the district is the Museum of Health and Medical Science, which features a walk-through re-creation of the human body. The Menil Museum has a collection of contemporary, surrealistic and 20th century art in an interesting building at Sul Ross. In Hermann Park is the comprehensive Museum of Natural Science and Planetarium, the Houston Zoo and a Japanese Garden.
Phone Number: (713) 715 1939
Website: www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org
Hours: Various
Admission: Most institutions have free admission, otherwise entry fees range from $2-9 for adults
The Orange ShowCity/Region: Houston
For a touch of the bizarre call at the Orange Show to see how obsession can become art. A former postman spent 26 years of his life assembling a collection of weird and wonderful objects and meshing them together into a labyrinth of passages and staircases, almost all of it orange. The result is a quirky curiosity, which is billed as 'folk art'.
Address: 2402 Munger Street
Phone Number: (713) 926 6368
Website: www.orangeshow.org
Hours: Wednesday to Friday 9am to 1pm; Saturday and Sunday 12pm to 5pm (31 May to 6 September). Saturday and Sunday only 12pm to 5pm (10 March to 31 May and 6 September to mid-December)
Admission: $1
Sam Houston Historical ParkCity/Region: Houston
The Sam Houston Historical Park near the city's visitor center in Bagby Street provides visitors with a large as life look at Houston history. The 19-acre park features seven of the city's oldest buildings that have been restored and relocated here. The oldest building is a small 1826 cabin that originally stood at Clear Lake, while one of the more recent is the 17-room home built in 1905 for oil field pioneer Henry T. Staiti.
Address: 1100 Bagby Street
Phone Number: (713) 655 1912
Email Address: info@heritagesociety.org
Website: www.heritagesociety.org
Hours: Museum hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm, Sundays 1pm to 4pm. Historic House tours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am, 11.30am, 1pm and 2.30pm, Sundays 1pm and 2.30pm
Admission: $6 (adults) for Historic House tours; Museum gallery free
Bayou BendCity/Region: Houston
The magnificent muted pink mansion in the marshy elbow of Buffalo Bayou in Houston's River Oaks area was the home of Miss Ima Hogg, a woman much loved in the community until her death in 1975, at the age of 93. Miss Hogg left her home and the gracious gardens that surround it as a legacy for the city. The house contains a remarkable collection of Americana and is regarded as a cultural treasure, with several thousand objects displayed in 28 period room settings in the mansion. Miss Hogg designed the gardens as outdoor living rooms, fed by bayou waters, and today they continue to provide a peaceful oasis in the heart of the metropolis planted with indigenous species as well as exotics like azaleas, camellias and magnolias.
Address: 1 Westcott Street
Phone Number: (713) 639 7750
Website: www.mfah.org/bayoubend
Hours: Saturday and Sunday 1pm to 5pm. Guided tours are available Tuesday to Friday 10am to 2.45pm and Saturday 10am to 11.15am, but advance reservations are necessary. No guided tours in August. The gardens are open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm
Admission: $10 (adults), $5 (children 10-17). Admission to the gardens is $3 (adults)
National Museum of Funeral HistoryCity/Region: Houston
At Barren Springs near Houston's International Airport is the unusual private museum run by a major funeral company in the United States, dedicated to funeral memorabilia. Customs, rituals and traditions associated with burial from ancient Egypt to the present day are covered in this interesting institution. Highlights of the collection are restored horse-drawn and vintage automobile hearses, and a unique 1916 Packard funeral bus. The museum also features a gallery devoted to the funerals of the famous, containing memorabilia from the funerals of Elvis Presley, John F. Kennedy and Rudolph Valentino.
Address: 415 Barren Springs Drive
Phone Number: (281) 876 3063
Email Address: info@nmfh.org
Website: www.nmfh.org
Hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm; Saturday and Sunday 12pm to 4pm
Admission: $6 (adults), $3 (children)
Texas State CapitolCity/Region: Austin
Austin's impressive pink granite capitol building is rivalled only by that of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Encircled by its original wrought-iron fence topped with gold Lone Stars and standing proudly in a hectare (three acres) of ground, the domed building was constructed in 1882 out of granite quarried from Granite Mountain 75 miles (121km) away. Visitors can take guided tours of this interestingly designed building, or attend legislative sessions, which are open to the public.
Address: Congress Avenue between 11th Street and 14th Street
Phone Number: (512) 463 0063 (Tour Guide Office) or (512) 305 8400 (Visitors Center)
Hours: Monday to Friday 7am to 10pm, weekends 9am to 8pm
Zilker ParkCity/Region: Austin
The 140-hectare (347-acre) Zilker Park, donated to the city by the German immigrant who gave it its name, is Austin's most popular public recreational area, dominated by its ancient spring-fed natural swimming pool, known as Barton Springs, which Native Americans believed to have healing properties. The pool is about the size of a football field with water at a constant warm temperature all year round. Zilker Park has other attractions, too, including a botanical garden which features dinosaur tracks, a nature preserve, the Umlauf Sculpture garden and museum, and eight miles (13km) of biking and walking trails. There are sports facilities aplenty and amusements for children like the Zilker Zephyr miniature train and paddleboat rides.
Address: 2100 Barton Springs Road
Website: www.ci.austin.tx.us/zilker
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower CenterCity/Region: Austin
Texas hill country is renowned for its glorious spring blooms, and former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, founded this center dedicated to the study and preservation of native plants in 1982. There are 72 hectares (178 acres) of wildflowers in display gardens, which includes a garden designed to attract butterflies. There are also some interesting indoor displays featuring some novelties, and the center offers free lectures and guided walks at weekends.
Address: 4801 La Crosse Avenue
Phone Number: (512) 292 4100
Website: www.wildflower.org
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm; Sundays 12pm to 5.30pm
Admission: $7 (adults); $3 (children 5-12)
Governor's MansionCity/Region: Austin
The opulent plantation-style mansion that is home to the Texas State governor is one of the oldest buildings in the city, dating from 1856. Although it is still very much lived in when the governor is in town, the mansion is open to the public for limited hours each day and many historical artifacts are on display, including portraits of Davy Crockett and Sam Houston, and a collection of mementoes from each administration. Guided tours are offered every 20 minutes during which interesting anecdotes are related about previous governors.
Address: Colorado Street
Phone Number: Reservations: (512) 463 5516; Capitol Complex Visitors Center: (512) 305 8400
Website: www.txfgm.org
Hours: Generally open Monday to Thursday 10am to 12pm. Last tour starts at 11.40am and advance reservations are required
Jack S. Blanton Museum of ArtCity/Region: Austin
A major stop on national art circuit tours, the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas in Austin is ranked among the top 10 university art museums in the country. Highlights here are the Suida-Manning Collection of European paintings that features 250 works by the Continental masters and the collection of 20th-century American Art assembled by novelist James A. Michener. There is also a large collection of Latin American Art consisting of more than 500 key works.
Address: University of Texas
Phone Number: (512) 471 7324
Email Address: info@blantonmuseum.org
Website: www.blantonmuseum.org
Transport: The free Dillo has a stop outside the campus. The Museum is also directly served by regular bus routes 5 and 7
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm (until 8pm on Thursdays), Sunday 1pm to 5pm. Closed on major public holidays
Admission: $5 (adults), children under 12 are free. Other concessions available. Free on Thursdays
Congress Avenue BridgeCity/Region: Austin
One of the more unusual tourist attractions in Austin, or in fact anywhere, is the nightly flight of millions of Mexican free-tailed bats when they emerge from their roosts under the Congress Avenue Bridge. The bat colony takes up residence under the bridge in mid-March each year and returns to Mexico in early November. During their sojourn in Austin visitors are amazed by their mass evening emergence from their roost, which generally takes place at dusk. The Congress Avenue Bridge is 10 blocks south of the State Capitol building, spanning Town Lake. A Bat Observation Center is located on the southeast side. During bat season hundreds of people gather on and around the bridge each evening to witness the spectacle.
Address: Congress Bridge
Phone Number: (512) 416 5700 (Bat Hot Line)
Website: www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=122
Hours: Dusk daily. Bat season is mid-March to beginning of November, but the best months are July and August
Guadalupe Mountains National ParkCity/Region: Austin
The rugged wilderness of the Guadalupe Mountains in west Texas was originally a barrier reef under the waters of an ancient sea. Today fir trees and pockets of lush vegetation cling to this mountain range rising from the desert. Formerly the home of the Apache nation the National Park is now occupied by hundreds of plant and bird species, 60 species of mammals and 55 varieties of reptiles and amphibians. Visitors can traverse more than 80 miles (129km) of trails on foot or horseback, or take the 4WD route provided. There are several historic sites in the park including Frijole Ranch History Museum and the ruins of a stagecoach station. McKittrick Canyon in the northeast corner of the park is regarded as the most beautiful spot in Texas, where oaks and maples make a colorful display in fall.
Phone Number: Headquarters Visitors Center (915) 828 3251
Website: www.nps.gov/gumo/index.htm
Transport: No public transportation is available
Hours: The park is open year round. The Headquarters Visitors Center opens 8am to 4.30pm
Admission: $5 per adult for a seven-day pass
Dallas Holocaust MuseumCity/Region: Dallas-Fort Worth
The Dallas Holocaust Museum, Center for Education and Tolerance, is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust and memorialising its victims. It provides guided tours for groups, audio tours for individuals, public lectures and exhibits. Originally situated in the Jewish Community Center, the museum has relocated to a larger premises in the center of Dallas' historical district, adjacent to the Sixth Floor Museum, due to lack of space and having to turn away thousands of visitors each year. But even this is a temporary measure as an even larger museum is planned, which will be a powerfully symbolic structure to support its profound educational message.
Address: 211 N. Record Street, Suite 100, Dallas
Phone Number: (214) 741 7500
Website: www.dallasholocaustmuseum.org
Hours: Daily Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 5pm
Admission: $6 (adults); concessions available
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