Between River Access and Parkland
Visitors looking to visit the Brazos River in Johnson County will find the only public access to the river at Hamm Creek Park. There, a boat ramp leads to the water. Access is therefore tied to a specific location: the park and its ramp.
Cleburne State Park offers a different view of nature. It surrounds 116-acre Cedar Lake, with its clear blue water, and offers nearly 13 miles of trails for hiking or biking. The lake and trails offer different highlights: here, the water shapes the landscape; there, trails lead through the park for hiking or biking.
The construction history is also part of the story of Cleburne State Park. Men from CCC Company 3804 built the dam, park road, water tower, entrance buildings, and outdoor fireplaces. The structures mentioned range from the dam and road to distinctive details of the park grounds.
History on Different Scales
The Chisholm Trail Outdoor Museum is located along the Chisholm Trail, an overland route used for cattle drives in the late 19th century. On the open, publicly accessible grounds, visitors can learn more about the influence of cattle drives on life and the history of Johnson County’s first county seat. Exhibits and sites include a life-size silhouette of a cattle drive, the original Johnson County Courthouse, a working blacksmith shop, a stagecoach stop, and tipis. In this way, a depiction of a cattle drive stands alongside a range of historic sites.
The Big Bear Native American Museum offers a much broader time frame and geographic scope. Its collection of Indigenous artifacts was donated by Leonard “Big Bear” Beal and expanded with additional artifacts. It offers an overview of Indigenous peoples in North America—from their arrival more than 13,000 years ago to the present.
The Johnson County Courthouse was built in 1912 in the Classical Revival style, with Prairie Style elements. It is listed as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and a State Antiquities Landmark, and is also on the National Register of Historic Places. The Johnson County Courthouse Museum collects and preserves historical and natural history materials related to Johnson County, Texas.
Railroads, Collections, and the Stage
The Cleburne Railroad Museum presents the history of Cleburne’s Santa Fe shops. In its HO-scale model train room, visitors can see several trains traveling along the C&JC Railroad. A virtual tour provides information about the museum’s exhibits and historic railroad sites in the city. Model trains, local history, and virtual orientation offer different ways to explore the subject of railroads.
The Layland Museum is housed in a 1904 Carnegie library building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum offers exhibits, research materials, and programs about home and family life in Texas. The Gone with the Wind Remembered Museum displays more than 6,000 historic objects in state-of-the-art, climate-controlled exhibits. For a different kind of cultural evening, the Plaza Theatre Company performs year-round in a theater with a theater-in-the-round stage.
For orientation, Cleburne is about 30 miles south of Fort Worth and is served by Amtrak. This information applies to Cleburne, not the entire county.
Discover More Destinations
Discover more destinations: Burleson, Cleburne, Alvarado, Joshua, Bowie, Maverick County, Dallas, Hardeman.
For the broader travel overview: Texas.
