Buffalo Gap Historic Village is a large museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 of fifteen outdoor structures and West Texas

West Texas

West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....

 artifacts

Cultural artifact

A cultural artifact is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology, and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information about the culture of its creator and users...

 that reach back to the late 19th century and the early 20th century located in the small town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 of Buffalo Gap

Buffalo Gap, Texas

Buffalo Gap is an incorporated town in Taylor County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Abilene, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 463 at the 2000 census. It is the former county seat of Taylor County, having been supplanted in 1883 by the much larger Abilene to its north...

 south of Abilene

Abilene, Texas

Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. The museum focuses particularly upon the years 1883, 1905, and 1925. The village is centered on the original Old Taylor County Courthouse

Courthouse

A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...

 and Jail from 1879. Several entire buildings have been moved to the village from other parts of the state for display, including an early Texaco

Texaco

Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....

 gasoline

Gasoline

Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...

 station. The Old Taylor County Courthouse and Jail building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

Other buildings include pioneer log cabin

Log cabin

A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...

s, a medical display, a barber

Barber

A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....

shop, railroad depot

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

 with working telegraph system, blacksmith shop, two-room school

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

, bank, post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

, and air-conditioned chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

. Additionally, there is a large collection of firearms, Indian

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

, and farm/ranch

Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

-related material, all displayed informally. The gift shop has an assortment of books and Texas gifts. A short video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

 on the history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 of the region is presented in the visitors center. Picnicking facilities and playground equipment are available.

The village originated as a historic site in 1956. Three years later, Ernie Wilson, a lawyer historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, rancher, and churchman

Churchman

Typically refers to a member of the clergy. It may also refer to:*English Churchman, a family Protestant newspaper that was founded in 1843*Churchman , theological journal, formerly known as The Churchman...

, purchased the courthouse building and established a small museum of Indian and Western artifacts. Wilson also procured two other Taylor County structures, the Hill House and the Knight/Sayles Cabin. All are incorporated in the Buffalo Gap Village. Wilson died in 1970. The site was purchased in 1977 by R. Lee Rode, M.D.

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

, and his wife, Ann. The Rodes expanded the site by acquiring more regional historic structures. When Rode retired from medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

, he offered the village for sale. Through the efforts of the Taylor County Historical Foundation, the village was maintained intact and acquired by the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation. It is operated as a non-profit educational facility. The village charges a small admission fee.

Since 1999, the McWhiney Foundation has developed an interpretive theme for the site. Visitors can learn the history of the last half century of the Texas frontier between 1875 and 1925. They can obtain an understanding of the forces, such as the automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

, that brought change to the region. The village offers special events and lectures. A short book, The Texas You Expect: The Story of Buffalo Gap Historic Village, is now in publication.
Buffalo Gap Village offers the public access to the Chautauqua

Chautauqua

Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...

 Learning Series. These are monthly lecture

Lecture

thumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...

s based on the Chautauqua movement which spread throughout the rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

 United States at the turn of the 20th century. Speakers on the circuit included the entertainer Charles Ross Taggart

Charles Ross Taggart

Charles Ross Taggart was an American comedian and folklorist who appeared all over North America as "The Man From Vermont" and "The Old Country Fiddler" from 1895-1938...

 and the three-time Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 presidential nominee

Nomination

Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office, or the bestowing of an honor or award.In the context of elections for public office, a candidate who has been selected by a political party is normally said to be the nominee of that party...

 William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...

. A sample lecture is entitled "Victorian Underpinnings: Why Did They Wear That?" about heavy women's clothing in the 19th century.

Buffalo Gap also hosts music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

al events, including the annual Bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

 Festival.

The community is four miles northeast of Lake Abilene and the Abilene State Park

Abilene State Park

Abilene State Park is a park near Lake Abilene south of Abilene, Texas. It features camping, trailer facilities, picnicking, shelters, a swimming pool, hiking and fishing. A large grove of oak, elm and pecan trees, now a favorite picnic area, was once a campground for Comanche Indians...

. Less than ten miles away is the new state-of-the art Frontier Texas!

Frontier Texas!

Frontier Texas! is a state-of-the-art museum of the American West located in downtown Abilene, the seat of Taylor County in West Texas. The facility opened in 2004. It is located at 625 North First Street on near the Texas and Pacific Railway tracks. The museum focuses on typical settlers and...

 museum in downtown Abilene, which features narration by the former Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

star Buck Taylor

Buck Taylor

Walter Clarence "Buck" Taylor, III is an American actor and water color artist best known for his role as gunsmith-turned-deputy Newly O'Brien in 113 episodes during the last eight seasons of CBS's Gunsmoke television series . In recent years, he has painted the portrait of his friend and Gunsmoke...

. Lake Kirby within Abilene offers fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

and picnicking.