AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is home to incredible museums and attractions. Narrowing down the list of places to see is a difficult task.
If time permits on your next trip to the Lone Star state, here are four places you should add to your itinerary.
Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute, Waco
The Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute, located in a former bottling plant in the heart of Waco, highlights the story of Dr Pepper and the story of the entire soft drink industry.
Charles Alderton is credited with developing Dr Pepper’s unique combination of flavors in 1885 in Dr. Wade Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store. According to legend, Morrison named the soft drink after the father of a girl he once loved. Regardless, it quickly became known as a “Waco.” The rest, as they say, is history.
Sixth Floor Museum, Dallas
Decades after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, amateur historians and conspiracy theorists alike travel to Dealey Plaza. Some pose for pictures on the grassy knoll while others dodge traffic to stand on an ‘X’ painted on the asphalt, the spot where a bullet fatally struck Kennedy, marked by an
But, anyone wanting to examine that day in the context of Dallas in 1963 should visit The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. The museum, originally opened in 1989, tells the story of Kennedy’s assassination and the aftermath of his death. It also puts it into context Kennedy’s visit to Dallas, which was, in essence, the first stop of his 1964 re-election campaign.
National Museum of Funeral History, Houston
The National Museum of Funeral History educates visitors about funerals and how caring for the dead has changed over time.
The 35,000-square-foot museum features a wide array of caskets and hearses, which one might expect to see at a funeral museum. But, the well-researched exhibits offer a profound look at the business of death, including celebrities’ deaths, mourning customs of the 19th century and the history of embalming.
George W. Bush Library, Dallas
A towering piece of twisted steel from the World Trade Center is the centerpiece of a 9/11 exhibit that is possibly the most touching at the George W. Bush Presidential Library. The exhibition features the bullhorn Bush used on Sept. 14, 2001, when he stood atop the rubble to address workers, the nation and the world.
In addition to the 9/11 exhibit, the 14,000-square-foot museum features a replica of the Oval Office and an exhibition — complete with hanging chads — about the 2000 election in which Bush defeated then-Vice President Al Gore.