Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
owing to one mighty fine museum and some traditional places to eat that will have you
happy that modernity seems in short supply.
Sights
All the following sights, except for the zoo, are within a few blocks of each other down-
town. Treadway Blvd (Business Route 83D) is the main north-south street running
through downtown; it is marked by little of architectural interest.
Frontier Texas!
MUSEUM
( 325-437-2800;
www.frontiertexas.com
; 625 N First St; adult/child $8/4; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat, 1-5pm Sun;
)
Reason enough to stop if you're anyplace near Abilene, Frontier Texas! makes 100 years
of frontier history (1780-1880) possibly more interesting than the real thing. The museum
also serves as the main visitor information center for the region.
Life-size holograms and other special effects take you inside a buffalo stampede, next
to a conniving card shark and at home on a firefly-filled range. Hairs will raise on your
arms at the appearance of Comanche chief Esihabitu.
Abilene Zoo
( 325-676-6085;
www.abilenezoo.org
; 2070 Zoo Lane; adult/child $5/2.50; 9am-5pm; )
Jaguars,
ocelots, elephants and giraffes are among the more than 160 species making their home at
the Abilene Zoo, located in Nelson Park in southeast Abilene near the junction of Loop
322 and Highway 36.
Highlights include the Creepy Crawly Center and the Discovery Center, which com-
pares plants and animals of the Southwest USA and Central America to similar areas in
Africa and Madagascar.
ZOO
MUSEUM
Grace Museum
( 325-673-4587;
www.thegracemuseum.org
; 102 Cypress St; adult/child $8/4; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat, to 8pm Thu)
This fine museum complex includes three distinct museums housed in the former Grace
Hotel, once the grandest in Abilene. The art museum features periodically changing ex-
hibitions. The historical museum focuses on Abilene's history from 1900 through 1950.
It's heavy on railroad and military memorabilia plus what home life was like in a sim-
pler time. The children's museum has fun science experiments, including one where you
can ponder gravity.
