Places I'm Visiting: Fort Worth

After a day in Dallas, I spent a day in Fort Worth, starting with a visit to the Cowgirl Museum, which turned out to be rather more interesting than I expected. When we visited, it was only partly open as it is undergoing an expansion, but on view were a section featuring riding gear used by women who participate in Escramuzza Charra, part of the charrería, or Mexican rodeo. It is a timed, competitive event in which riders (in fancy dress and riding side saddle using specially designed saddles) go through a routine of twelve or more exercises for review by a panel of judges who look at clothing, tack, and execution; there was a section looking at the cowgirls who rode in the shows of Buffalo Bill, including a great deal about Annie Oakley; and there was a display of Western-themed Hermés scarves, which noted that Hermés started as a tackle company, a fact that was new to me. Also new to me was the fact that in her retirement Annie Oakley lived at 233 Salem Ave, in Dayton, Ohio, fairly close to where I once lived.

After the museum, we went down to the Fort Worth stockyards, which is now mostly shops and restaurants, but twice a day a herd of longhorn cattle is paraded through the streets. In reality, only about 17 head of cattle were in the parade, led by cowboys on horseback, but it was interesting to see the animals and, after the parade, the area where the cattle are kept is open to the public. There is an elevated walkway that allows you to look down on the animals in the pens below. Some of the animals have a hornspan (if that’s a word) of up to 10 feet, but 6–7 feet appears to be normal. Both males and females grow horns, I was told. Apparently the horns grow quickly in the first 7-8 years of the animal’s life but then mostly they stop. 

The shops are stocked with such things as cowboy boots, cowboy hats, belts and belt buckles, cow hides, cow hide pillows, cow hide furniture, horns in various sizes, cow skulls with horns, and taxidermy of all sorts, including cattle, goats, elk, deer, foxes, coyote, and buffalo. A nice longhorn head for your wall will cost you about $2,000. A buffalo head for your den will cost you more like $8,000. 

After the stockyards, we were introduced to Fort Worth-style barbecue – brisket, pork ribs, and smoked catfish – along with such local specialties as deep-fried pickles, which are exactly what you are probably imagining them to be: sliced, deep-fried dill pickles.