What to See in Plano - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Plano, Texas. Heritage Farmstead Museum is a historic farm museum at 1900 West 15th Street in Plano, Texas.

The late-Victorian farm-house was built in 1891 on a 365-acre farm belonging to Mary Alice Farrell and her husband Hunter Farrell, a landowner and businessman whose family had moved to Texas from Virginia. The Farrells divorced in 1929 and eventually their daughter Ammie took over management of the farm and became an award-winning livestock breeder before her death in 1972. The farm was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 1986 the farm opened as a living museum utilizing the remaining 4.5 acres surrounding the home. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.^[1]

Nature preserve in Denton County, Texas. Arbor Hills Nature Preserve is a 200-acre park in Plano, Texas. It has several amenities including 3 miles of paved hiking trail, 3 miles of unpaved hiking trail, a 2.8 mile off-road bike trail, restrooms, a covered pavilion, and a playground. The pavilion can be reserved for special events. An observation tower provides a bird's eye view of the park. There are three regions in the park: Blackland Prairie, Riparian Forest, and Upland Forest. A pond in the preserve is named after Vasil Levski. Birds that live in the park include killdeer, owls, woodpeckers, egrets, herons, scissor-tailed flycatcher, and turkey vulture. Many other wildlife such as deer, coyotes, snakes, garden cheetahs, turtles, fish, and rabbits also live in the park.^[2]

Park in Plano, Texas. Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve is an 800-acre park in Plano, TX and is the largest park in the city. The park has 3.5 miles of concrete trails and 5 miles of soft trails, many of which are located along Rowlett Creek.

In the southeastern region of the park, there is an equestrian area where visitors can ride horses. There are 26 trails. The North Trail connects to the Six Cities Trail in Allen, which connects to the Bluebonnet Trail. Timber Chase Trail is a 0.88-mile trail which borders the main lake in the center of the park. Wildlife includes bobcats, coyotes, snakes, rabbits, turtles, and fish. Visitors can take the paved multi-use trail to the neighboring Bob Woodruff Park to see the oldest tree in Plano, a 200-year-old Bur Oak. The lake is open to kayaking, canoeing, and stand-up paddle boarding from sunrise to sunset.

The Amphitheater at Oak Point Park is an outdoor amphitheater that allows visitors to watch shows while enjoying the nature. The venue can hold up to 2500 guests and is the starting point for 5K walks in the park.

Located right off Los Rios Boulevard, the Oak Point Park and Nature Retreat Center is a 7,000 square-foot gathering place for many auspicious events and outdoor education.

The yearly Plano Balloon Festival is held at Oak Point Park and includes many fun activities such as hot air balloons, fireworks, and skydiving.

There are also many running/walking activities: 1K, 5K, Half-Marathon, and Relay Race.

Go Ape is a 2-3 hour unique outdoor experience through the forest with many fascinating activities such as zip lines, Tarzan swings, and suspended obstacles like rail tracks.^[3]

Masjid in Plano, Texas. The East Plano Islamic Center is a mosque located in Plano, Texas. The current building of the masjid opened in July 2015, although the mosque started a decade earlier. The current Imam is Nadim Bashir, and the current resident scholar is Yasir Qadhi. The mosque is one of many mosques in the DFW area.

EPIC is a non-profit tax-exempt organization (with Tax-ID: 20–0629612) that has been formed exclusively for educational, religious, and social purposes. It is registered with the Internal Revenue Service under revenue code 501(c)(3).

EPIC is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual, non-sectarian, diverse, and open community committed to full and equal participation and involvement of men and women who are community members of EPIC and subscribe to accept its rules, regulations, and procedures. EPIC is committed to civic and civil engagement with communities of other faiths and society at large.

The community, often referred to as Pakistani Beverly Hills, is categorized by multimillion-dollar homes next to the masjid, a $250,000 to $500,000 average household income, a golf course, high end shops and luxurious gyms nearby a great standard of living, and is home to a large number of doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers and IT professionals. The large donations of this wealthy community is what enables EPIC to be one of the leading centers for Islam in North America.

The community mirrors many mosques in DFW, as it mostly consists of South Asians.^[4]

Carpenter in Plano, Texas. The Carpenter House, 1211 East 16th Street, Plano, Collin County, Texas, is a Victorian home built in 1898 for Col. Henry C. Overaker and his new bride. Three years in completion, the house was set in the middle of a former cotton field which was part of the colonel's many land holdings. Gibson Edgar Carpenter, a gentleman farmer, lawyer, and judge, purchased the house in the early 1920s to ensure his children would receive the best education in the Plano school system. Carpenter Middle School, named for Carpenter’s father Robert Washington Carpenter, is located on land formerly owned by the family. A videohistory of the house in its current state is accessible at this referenced link. The house is notable for its unique architecture, its rare survival into the 21st Century as an intact homeplace, and its association with a family noted for its civic service to the local community.^[5]