Current Exhibitions
Special permanent and traveling exhibitions allow visitors to experience Texas’ colorful past at Pioneer Farms. The following are currently on display.
Two-Stepping across Texas
Texas dance halls helped make the Lone Star State’s music history like no other, showcased in an exhibit housed in a century-old hall built in West Point, Texas.
Henry & Ben: two guns
The stories of an aide to famous Army Gen. George C. Custer and a gunfighter-turned-lawman showcase the colorful 1870s in Austin, in our Houston-Orsay House.
Indelible history
An amazing collection of the 1800s inkwells, from elegant silver pots and ones owned by famous Texans, to a horses hoof, in our Welcome enter in Sprinkle Corner.
Tickwan-tic: native people
Experience how the early indigenous inhabitants of the Austin area lived in the centuries before the first settlers arrived, at our Tonkawa Encampment site.
land history: varas & beyond
An exhibit highlighting the history of land measurement in Central Texas from the Republic to the dawn of the 20th century, in our Aynesworth-Wright Gallery.
Wheels of Time: austin original
From the expensive coach once used by U.S. presidents and Texas governors to an original Lone Star stagecoach, this collection of horse-drawn history will surely amaze.
GERMAN STONE BLOCKHOUSE
They were once fortresses on the Texas frontier, built by early immigrants as an escape from marauders. Ours has just been preserved and restored to its 1850s glory.
DODSON HOUSE FREEDOM FARM
Learn about the Dodson Farm House as we begin a showcase restoration to highlight the successes of formerly enslaved Texans during the late 1800s.
VILLAGE SMITHY: early industry
Step back into 1800s Texas at our Village Smithy, an operating blacksmith shop where the sounds of forges and anvils ring out. See the historic power hammer.