photography courtesy of Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau
The historic Fort Worth Stockyards, a 98-acre district with roots reaching back to the days when the city was known as Cowtown, has just about everything you would expect from a former cattle-swap hot spot: a rodeo every Friday and Saturday night, live music, a cattle auction, and plenty of Western-themed places to eat and drink (including one saloon called Filthy McNasty’s). Things have slowed down a bit since the mid nineteenth century, when, over the course of 24 years, more than four million head of cattle were driven through the town. But the longhorns, known as the Fort Worth herd, still run down the main drag twice a day. Similarly significant stockyards in Sioux Falls, Kansas City, and Chicago shut down years ago, so don’t miss the history and fun that this last representative of a bygone era has to offer.