Discover Lubbock: Music, Museums and Landscapes

Music history, art, technology and nature trails offer different ways to experience Lubbock. The topics range from a musician’s legacy and the history of military gliders to the development of agriculture on the South Plains. You can plan your trip around the things that interest you most.

Music History and Museums

The Buddy Holly Center preserves, collects and promotes the legacy of Buddy Holly, as well as the music of Lubbock and West Texas. The Buddy Holly Galleries feature changing and permanent exhibitions about his life, music and legacy. At the Center, you can also explore J. I. Allison’s childhood home, which dates back to the 1950s. Allison was the drummer for The Crickets and Buddy Holly’s best friend.

Another chapter of history is covered at the Silent Wings Museum, which preserves and shares the history of the military glider program during World War II. On display is a fully restored CG-4A glider. The permanent exhibits take you from pilot training and the program’s significance to World War II operations to the experiences of personnel in the combat zone.

The Museum of Texas Tech University brings together a range of collections and offers free daily admission. It has nine permanent galleries and ten changing galleries. The Moody Planetarium offers more than 40 shows on topics such as stars and constellations, dark matter and black holes, and the sun, moon and solar systems. At the William C. and Evelyn M. Davies Gallery of Southwest Indian Art, you can see historic and contemporary art and crafts by more than 20 Indigenous North American tribes from the wider Southwest. The works on display include pottery, textiles, wood carvings, basketry and mixed-media works.

Agriculture, Windmills and Ranching History

The American Windmill Museum showcases restored windmills that have played an important role in history. As of 2001, it had the world’s largest public collection of restored windmills.

At the National Ranching Heritage Center, Foy Proctor Historical Park spans 19 acres and presents more than 200 years of ranching history. The FiberMax Center for Discovery showcases a different kind of change: its agricultural machinery and artifacts date from the pioneering years of agriculture on the South Plains. The history of technology there ranges from horse-drawn equipment to computer-controlled, GPS-based machines. Outdoor exhibits include a working center-pivot irrigation system and a historic farm from the 1930s.

The Slaton Harvey House also combines architectural history with a broad historical perspective. The building, constructed in 1912, served guests for more than 30 years. The museum in the Slaton Harvey House explores the history of Texas and the United States, including the impact of railroads, the role of women in US society and business innovations in the early 20th century.

Nature Trails, Wildlife Watching and Public Art

At Lubbock Lake Landmark, you can combine exercise with nature watching. The Nature Trail is 3.5 miles long and follows Yellowhouse Draw through native habitat, where you can observe regional plants, birds and other wildlife. The Landmark has a total of 4.5 miles of trails in a loop along Yellowhouse Draw. The trail length and the extent of the trail network thus provide two distinct points of reference.

For wildlife watching, visit Prairie Dog Town in Mackenzie Park, where visitors can see prairie dogs emerge from their burrows. The First Friday Art Trail combines a self-guided walk to view public art with a market in the Lubbock Cultural District. It takes place on the first Friday of every month; check the dates against your travel dates.

Citibus provides public transportation on fixed routes in Lubbock, as well as a paratransit service. If you’re looking for a hotel for your stay, you can plan around the different areas of interest: music and exhibitions, technology and ranching history, or trails and wildlife watching.

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