Things to Do in Lancaster, Texas

Lancaster's historic town square is the heart of the city — red-brick buildings in a distinctive circular layout, shaded by old trees, that served as the center of town life for over a century. A 1994 tornado demolished many of the original late-1800s and early-1900s buildings, and a revival has been underway ever since, with new restaurants, shops, and a co-working space filling in.

The square hosts the 2nd Saturday on the Square events, with live entertainment and arts-and-crafts vendors, and the adjacent Heritage Park lights up in December for the Lancaster Lights and Christmas in Olde Towne festivities.

Lancaster Regional Airport is home to two aviation museums that are the town's most distinctive attraction. The DFW Wing of the Commemorative Air Force keeps a collection of World War II vintage aircraft in flying condition, and the Cold War Air Museum displays both fixed-wing and rotor-wing aircraft from the Cold War era.

For aviation and military-history buffs, the pair is a real find — vintage warbirds you can see up close, some of them still airworthy, right at a small-town airport.

For time outside, Lancaster's Community Park has trails, a pond, ballfields, and an indoor recreation center with an aquatics center, and Bear Creek Nature Park adds hiking and biking trails through natural terrain. Cedar Valley College brings a public arboretum and horticulture center to town.

And because Lancaster sits just south of Dallas, the full range of the city's attractions is a short drive north — but the square, the museums, and the parks fill a day on their own.