Hays brings together natural history, local history sites, and trails through diverse landscapes. When planning your trip, you can first decide whether museum exhibits and historic sites or nature trails and wildlife should shape your stay. The attractions differ not only in subject but also in their specific focus.
Natural History at the Sternberg Museum
The Sternberg Museum of Natural History currently houses about 3 million specimens. The collection covers paleontology, paleobotany, geology, botany, entomology, ichthyology, herpetology, ornithology, and mammalogy. Its scope ranges from Earth and plant sciences to insects, fish, amphibians and reptiles, birds, and mammals. Visitors interested in several scientific fields will find a range of subjects in one institution.
The Discovery Room offers a different way to explore nature: visitors can engage with nature interactively. If you plan to visit this area, check the exhibit’s availability before your trip.
Church, Exhibits, and Remembrance
The limestone church of the Ellis County Historical Society was built in 1879 as a Presbyterian church. It houses the Sternberg Firearms exhibit, featuring objects from the 18th to the 20th century, including items from the 1940s. Here, the history of a specific building meets an exhibit of objects collected across a broad span of time. In collaboration with the Hays Fireman's Association, the Ellis County Historical Society Museum also presents various aspects of historic firefighting.
The Volga German Haus offers a different focus: it is a replica of a traditional limestone home of the Volga Germans in Ellis County. While the church’s history includes its construction as a Presbyterian place of worship in 1879, the Volga German Haus focuses on reproduced residential architecture.
Boot Hill became Hays City’s first burial ground in the fall of 1867; it had an estimated 79 graves. The statue The Homesteader at Boot Hill commemorates this first cemetery. The season, the approximate number of graves, and the statue offer different historical points of reference.
Two Nature Trails with Distinct Features
The Big Creek Nature Trail in Frontier Park follows the banks of Big Creek on a 1.7-mile hike and includes 14 points of interest. The main trail at Vineyard Park Nature Trail is 1.1 miles long and crosses varied landscapes, from wetlands to prairies. Visitors can see wildlife and native plants along the route.
The trail lengths are easy to compare: the main trail at Vineyard Park is shorter than the Big Creek route. The trails also differ in character: Big Creek follows the riverbank and includes 14 points of interest, while the Vineyard main trail traverses different habitats, from wetlands to prairies. This lets you choose based on trail length and landscape interests.
Another connection to nature is Hays’s bison herd. It was established in Frontier Park in 1953 and has new calves every year. This combines a specific historical starting point with an aspect of the herd that recurs annually.
Choose Hays as a Place to Stay
When searching for hotels in Hays, your preferred travel theme can be a useful starting point: the Sternberg Museum and historic sites offer a range of cultural and natural history highlights, while the trails and bison herd add to the area’s nature-focused appeal. First deciding which of these interests you want to prioritize can help you choose Hays as a destination for your stay.
Discover more destinations: Ellis.
See the broader travel overview: Ellis County.
