Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary

Bessie Heard was born in McKinney in 1886 and spent most of her long life in the town. She collected seashells, butterflies and original nature prints by Audubon and Redouté until the collections outgrew her home, and at 80 she set out to preserve a place where later generations could experience nature. The museum opened on October 1, 1967.

The sanctuary now covers 289 acres and keeps five habitats: Blackland prairie, wetlands, bottomland forest, upland forest and a white rock escarpment. The Heard's habitat guide says the once-expansive North Texas native prairie, kept for thousands of years by grazing animals and natural fires and then plowed for farms and built over, is now the rarest habitat in the area. Its Bluestem Trail gives the best view of the prairies. In 1990 the museum created a 50-acre wetland in the floodplain of Wilson Creek, which slows floodwater and cleans runoff.

About 6.5 miles of unpaved trails run through these habitats, from the half-mile Hoot Owl Trail to the one-and-a-quarter-mile Sycamore Trail. The indoor exhibits are wheelchair accessible; the trails are not. The Heard is a private nonprofit, and every visitor needs a general admission ticket or a membership. It is open Tuesday through Sunday and closed most Mondays. The trail guide warns of copperheads, fire ants and poison ivy.