What to See in Bryan-College Station - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Bryan, Texas. The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History is a science, nature, and cultural history museum in Bryan, Texas, United States. The museum also maintains memberships in American Alliance of Museums, Natural Science Collections Alliance, and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections.

The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History maintains collections in the fields of archaeology, botany, conchology, cultural history, geology, mammalogy, ornithology, and paleontology.

The museum was among 14 to be considered to display one of the four space shuttle orbiters made available by NASA at the end of the space shuttle program to its new Museum of Science and History Former president George H. W. Bush, whose presidential library is several miles from the museum, has expressed his support. Museum officials were initially very positive about their chances of being selected, with the museum executive directory saying, "I definitely think that we are going to get one of the shuttles." The museum was not selected to receive an orbiter, finishing last in scoring, with the NASA selection community citing significant concerns about the museum's attendance levels and risks to the orbiter in transportation to the museum. Nearby Texas A&M University was selected to receive a full motion shuttle simulator used by astronauts in training.

The Frithiof Fossil Collection includes a 15-inch Paleozoic trilobite and complete skeletons of an Ice Age cave bear, early wolf, Saber-toothed cat, along with numerous other partial skeletons. Dinosaurs are represented by the skull, vertebrae, femur, arm, an enormous tail of a hadrosaurid dinosaur, teeth and various bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex and Albertosaurus, and parts of a gigantic Camarasaurus, Triceratops, and Maiasaura. The hadrosaurid tail is unique in that it is one of the few fossils with fossilized skin.

The Museum houses the complete skeletons of Psittacosaurus, an early ancestor of Triceratops, and a complete Confuciusornis, a relative of both the raptor-like dinosaurs and modern birds. Rare, virtually complete skeletons of early mammals, fish, and reptiles are also available for viewing.^[1]

Event venue in Bryan, Texas. The Astin Mansion is a historic house located at 506 W. 26th Street, Bryan, Texas, USA. It was built in 1920 and designed in the English Georgian Revival style. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 25, 1987.

The Astin Mansion was built by Roger Q. Astin for his wife Nina (née Heard). Roger Astin was the youngest son of James Hugh Astin, a wealthy landowner and owner of the Rivermist cotton plantation. The Astin family significantly shaped the growth of Bryan, Texas and the Brazos Valley. There are several charitable organizations in the area that bear the Astin name as a result of the philanthropy of Nina Astin.

The Astin Mansion was designed by architect Hal B. Thompson. Mr. Thompson also designed Highland Park in Dallas. The main house has 96 windows and 16 sets of French doors. The original slate roof has been maintained. Many of the interior fixtures, chandeliers and mirrors are original to the house. The overmantle was carved by Peter Mansbendel in the style of the famous English carver Grinling Gibbons. Mr. Mansbendel also carved several of the limestone and cast stone mantles. The ironwork is thought to be from Henry Potter Ironworks of Dallas. The Astin Mansion complex also includes a carriage house that has been converted into a lounge. Above it is an apartment. Additionally, behind the main house, there is a children's playhouse built by Nina Astin for her children that is a miniature of the mansion.

The Astin Mansion has been used as a Special Events Venue for upscale events since 2004.^[5]