8 Spots to Experience History (For Free!) in Dallas

With so much to see and do in Dallas, treat yourself to a history lesson and tour some of the best historic attractions in the city.

Study Dallas History

History buffs will love the more than 3 million historic documents and three-dimensional objects on display at the Hall of State located at Fair Park – home to the largest collection of 1930s art deco exposition style architecture in the North America.

Give Thanks

Thanks-Giving Square is a private, interfaith and educational venue welcoming people of all nations, culture and religious traditions. The unique spiral-shaped building is the “Home of American Thanksgiving” and features a nearby meditation garden.

Stop By The Juanita Craft Civil Rights House

Dedicated to the civil rights activist Juanita J. Craft, this historic home sits in South Dallas and provides a cultural and educational experience with tons of memorabilia on display. The house can be scheduled for touring by appointment only and is one of only three house museums in the nation honoring major female figures in the modern civil rights movement.

Pictured Juanita Craft Civil Rights House

View The Grassy Knoll

Just outside the former School Book Depository is the infamous ‘grassy knoll' where an indelible mark was left on history. Nearby is the John F. Kennedy Memorial. Designed by family friend, Phillip Johnson, the memorial is an open-roofed, concrete-walled monument symbolic of an open tomb.

Pay Tribute

Just one block away from Dealey Plaza is the John F. Kennedy Memorial which honors the late President with a simple-designed monument that’s open for public viewing daily. Stop by after a visit to the Sixth Floor Museum for a time of reflection.

Pictured Sixth Floor Museum

Explore Dallas’ Heritage

Less than one mile north of downtown Dallas, is Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial, a pre-Civil War burial ground in what was once the Freedmen's Town Area–a small Dallas community formed by African-Americans freed from slavery in the mid-1860s.

See The Real Dallas Cowboys

A growing number of larger-than-life steers and their cowboy escorts move along the Shawnee Trail during the 1850s in this never-ending cattle drive; the largest bronze monument of its kind in the world located in Pioneer Plaza.

Cure Your Cabin Fever

When city founder John Neely Bryan first camped along the Trinity River, he probably never imagined that his log cabin would garner so much interest. But today a replica of Bryan’s original cabin stands in Founders Plaza, in downtown Dallas.