Bessie Heard loved McKinney almost as much as she loved nature, which is why she worked so hard to ensure that an untouched piece of North Texas would remain even after she was gone. The 289-acre Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary debuted in 1967 to teach locals about Mother Nature, and its lush exhibits have been doing just that ever since.

If you want to learn more about the venomous snakes rattling around Texas, the fossils that have been unearthed nearby, or the marine life in the lakes and the Gulf, you can learn all about these topics (and many more) at the indoor exhibits. Outside, the gardens preserve Texas as it was before people inhabited it. So while much of the garden space is untamed, there are also two landscaped gardens designed specifically to teach visitors how to create an eco-friendly green space.

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr tdlucas5000