2 Best Sights in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas

It may be difficult to imagine Dallas without its shiny skyscrapers, far-flung suburbs, and miles and miles of highway, but Heritage Village at Old City Park allows visitors to experience what life was like in Big D before 1910. The museum, set on 13 acres just south of I–30 and Downtown Dallas, consists of 38 restored buildings, furnished inside and out as they would have been (way) back in the day. You'll also meet a couple of donkeys, a cow, some chickens, and other barnyard animals. Visitors can tour structures such as a log cabin, an antebellum mansion, a schoolhouse, a church, a farmhouse, and a shotgun shack. The re-created Main Street features a sturdy bank (rebuilt on site brick by brick), a print shop, a general store, and a saloon, where you may be able to order an ice-cold root beer, play a game of cards or checkers, and even catch a gunfight that spills into the street. Docents are in period costume and stay in character, describing in detail their daily lives and challenges.

Visitors can roam the grounds and tour log cabins representative of life on the North Texas plains in the 19th century. Staff members and volunteers wear period dress and crush corn, cook on an open fire, help visitors dip candles, and demonstrate the techniques of blacksmiths. Children particularly enjoy ringing the bell outside the schoolhouse and exploring the one-room school's interior. The Seela Cabin allows little ones to try on bonnets, aprons, and workshirts and get to work—sweeping, cooking, and spinning yarn.