Local Attractions
Armstrong Browning Library
FREE! Located on the Baylor University campus, this beautiful building houses the largest collection of Victorian poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's work. The stained glass and inlaid wood showcase breathtaking craftsmanship and set an appropriately lovely stage for the Baylor Early Music Ensemble concerts and the Baylor Chamber Singers concerts. As a Baylor student, you are also welcome to study in the quiet halls at Armstrong Browning if you like.
Cameron Park Zoo
Nestled in 52 acres of Cameron Park, this award-winning zoo is loved as much for its lush surroundings as for the hundreds of animals it protects. Their collection of 1,731 animals includes such critically endangered species as Orangutans, Sumatran tigers, and Komodo Dragons. With numerous play areas and discovery zones for kids, the zoo is a big draw for Waco parents, who make the zoo a weekly activity for the family. But it's just as inviting to adults, who can unwind with a stroll through the bamboo-lined paths and see up close just how funny giraffes look when they chew.
Concerts and Festivals
Wacoans, you'll find, are an extremely philanthropic bunch. The benefit to you, law student, is that you can enjoy ample festivals, concerts, and fun times, all in the name of helping others. Add in the Bosque River Stage concerts, presented in a 530-seat amphitheater on the leafy-green banks of the Bosque, not to mention Brazos Nights, a free concert series hosted by the City of Waco, and you've got live music dotting your calendar throughout the year.
Homestead Heritage
Just a short drive from Waco-about 15 minutes from the Baylor Law campus-you'll come across a homesteading community of ironsmiths, bakers, woodcarvers, potters, and other craftspeople. Much like the Amish or the Mennonites, the folks at Homestead Heritage are united both in their religious beliefs and their commitment to a simpler way of life. You can tour their beautiful grounds, set on the bluffs above the Brazos River, eat at their restaurant where most everything is made from scratch (even the cheese!), and buy gifts in their transplanted 1800s barn-turned-gift shop. If you're in town around Thanksgiving, make a point to attend their Thanksgiving Festival. It's a frenzy of really, really good food and crafts and petting zoos and music, a real change of pace from studying.
Lake Waco Wetlands
FREE! Nature lovers-especially birders-love visiting the Lake Waco Wetlands. You can see Great Blue Herons, Green Tree Frogs, and American Beavers, among many other species and plants. Just a few short years ago, these wetlands didn't exist and none of these creatures were here. Now, though, the wetlands are both providing a safe habitat for native animals and plants, while naturally filtering and cleaning the water for the Central Texas area.
Waco Mammoth Site
The newest National Park, Waco's groundbreaking Mammoth Site lets visitors see in person the meticulously excavated fossil remains of 25 Columbian Mammoths. The majority of the herd, including mothers and their calves, appears to have died in a mudslide caused by torrential rains more than 65,000 years ago. Some 15,000 years after this mudslide, additional mammoths and animals drowned in the ravine from yet another rainstorm. This stunning discovery occurred on a spring day in 1978, when Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin went in search of arrowheads.