East Texas Oil Museum

Trace the town's boom – and bust – at the evocative East Texas Oil Museum, with vivid exhibits that do an admirable job re-creating the pre-oil discovery town. The World's Richest Acre Park has 36 re-created, light-topped oil derricks to commemorate the wells that gave this site its name. This patch of real estate yielded 2.5 million barrels of oil during a 30-year run. At the height of the boom, the number of oil wells in town numbered 1200.