With over 100 cattle brands decorating the entrance, there is little question that the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum is a monument to the Texas cowboys and settlers that first developed northern Texas. Located in Canyon, just south of Amarillo, on the West Texas A&M University campus, the museum is Texas’ largest history museum and a well curated survey of the region’s past.…
Category: Places of Interest
El Morro
In an otherwise desolate land, with neighboring locations so harsh as to be named El Malpaís (The Bad Place), El Morro is a stunning oasis. The pool of water at the foot of this massive rock formation has sustained travelers for thousands of years. Indeed, evidence of these passers-by remain in petroglyphs and carvings that are preserved on the rock face. Native Americans, Spanish…
Cade’s Cove
Nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains are the historic homesteads of Cade’s Cover. The community that developed here saw the challenges of not only farming in developing territories but constant raids during the Civil War. Before Cade’s Cove was divided into homesteads, Cherokee Indians hunted in it for thousands of years.* While there were no large permanent settlements in the…
The Department of the Interior
While the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) scope and presence spans across the country, its main offices are found in Washington DC. There, a grand building has been the hub of public land management since its construction was completed in 1936. Along with offices, the building houses a museum and an extensive collection of murals celebrating the various roles of…
Rancho La Brea and The Tar Pits
Much of California was already claimed by Mexican citizens before the state joined the US—Los Angeles included and Rancho La Brea of particular note. Rancho La Brea was named after the natural asphalt that occurred that bubbled to the surface on the land. The 4,439-acres of land was granted by the Mexican government to Antonio Jose Rocha and Nemisio Dominguez…