Places to Visit ~ The Stockyards at Fort Worth

Just about a month ago now, my husband took a week’s vacation and we took advantage of the time to go on a mini vacation first catching a Texas Ranger’s ballgame. {They won!}

After the game, we drove just a half-hour away to Old Fort Worth
just west of Dallas to the famous stockyards area where cattle were rounded up and shipped across country east and west.

Summer school students out on a field trip enjoyed watching the cattle drive.

The Stockyards

Famous as “The beginnings of the West” as the description on the

Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District website online says, the area boasts original cow pens, a railyard turnstile for turning engines around when heading a shipment of cattle east out to all points across country, wonderful old brick and limestone buildings with tall false fronts popular during the heyday of western expansion, and of course those famous Texas animals, the Texas longhorns, who walk the length of East Exchange Avenue two times a day to the delight of visitors.

Things to See and Do

The twice daily cattle drive at 11:00am and 4:00pm, the Stockyards have plenty to see and do. Everything centers around the history of the cattle drives and America’s western expansion.

Several museums cover the local history of Fort Worth and one of those is a large museum called The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame devoted to modes of travel during the mid to late 1800’s and up until the 1920’s or so. This museum also houses booths sharing historical snippets and memorabilia of famous Texans from rodeo, stage and movie stars who have ties to the the Fort Worth and Dallas area.

As you come into this carriage museum, the first thing you see is

Roy Rogers’ beautiful palomino horse forever rearing as a living testimony to the raw awesome beauty and danger of the Old West.

Roy Rogers’ beloved Trigger ~ He lived a good life performing in 188 movies and living 33 years.
Sorry some of these photos are blurry ~ all were taken with my iPhone as my
Canon’s memory card was full…

Just like on Hollywood, California’s famous sidewalks, Fort Worth also has its stars!

Famous rodeo rider

These are just a few of the photographs I saw in the museum’s Famous Texans area in individual booths. I’ll share more of that next week when I share the museum itself.

Recognize this really famous fellow???
Give you a hint:
Think “Men in Black” and “The Fugitive.”

In addition, cowboys roam the streets on horseback and will answer any questions visitors have about Texas and the heyday of cattle driving. These same cowhorns will bring Texas longhorns out throughout the day and park them under tree-shaded areas for visitors to come and sit on for photo opportunities.

Shopping and Restaurants

Stores are open for patrons to shop for everything Texas and to buy Texas mementos. This also includes vintage and new boots and gear. Some shops cater specifically to all new bootwear ~ some will even take custom orders as in days of old! I saw both new and used boot shops with vintage and new clothing as well. Hubby purchased a new pair of boots that fit like a glove! and I’ll share about that in an upcoming post on Shopping in Fort Worth.

Cool Texas wall art inside Cavender’s Boot City, Fort Worth.

There are burger places, bars and sit-down restaurants for every budget and we ate at several. This is the place we had lunch on the Friday we watched the cattle drive, a little sit-down burger joint of whose name I didn’t catch. It’s inside the stockyards covered shopping area, though! 🙂