The Best Things to Do in Denison, Texas

Ike was born in this two story frame house on 14 October 1890, while his father was working for the Katy railroad. A group of Denison residents bought and restored it as a memorial after his 1952 election, and the Texas Historical Commission took over operations on 1 January 2008. The rooms are furnished to the 1890s rather than to the presidency, which is the whole point of the place.

You see the house on a guided tour, not on your own. Tours leave on the hour, run about an hour, and cap at ten people. Adult admission is $6, seniors and veterans $5, ages 6 to 17 $4, and under 5 free. Sources split on whether the Sunday opening is noon or 1 p.m., so treat Sunday as an afternoon visit.

The park sits on the Lake Texoma shoreline northwest of town, reached by taking Highway 91 north toward the dam and turning west on FM 1310. There are 4.5 miles of hiking and biking trail along the bluffs, a swimming beach, a fishing pier, a boat ramp, and 163 campsites running from full hookup RV pads to screened shelters and one cabin.

Texoma is one of the very few reservoirs in the country where striped bass reproduce on their own rather than being stocked, which is why the fishing pressure here is what it is.

The Texas Commission on the Arts selected Denison for its 2009 cultural district pilot program, one of seven approved in the state that year, ending a decade of work by the Denison Arts Council. The district covers roughly thirty blocks of downtown.

On the ground that means crosswalks painted as piano keys, a guitar sculpture, instruments you can walk up and play, and murals across the 19th century storefronts, with more than 150 pieces of public art scattered through the district. Several of the newer murals are the work of the spray paint muralist Arcy, and the city requires the work to tie back to local heritage.

Brothers Robert and Jonathan Likarish opened Ironroot in 2014 and run it with their mother Marcia. In February 2020 their Harbinger straight bourbon took Best Non Kentucky Bourbon at the World Whiskies Awards and then beat the Kentucky field for the world title, which is not a thing that usually happens to a distillery in a town of 25,000.

The corn whiskey is the deeper record. Hubris has been named World's Best Corn six times, in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Ironroot is a stop on the North Texas leg of the Texas Whiskey Trail.

211 acres wrapped around a 52 acre lake, with about 1.5 miles of ADA compliant paved path and another 7.8 miles of rough hiking and mountain biking trail. The named routes include Lower Bluffs, the Katy Trail, Woodlands Loop and Creeks and Caves, tied together by a footbridge locals call the Bridge to Nowhere.

There is a fishing pier and a ramp for small boats, and the city parks department runs a rental stand for kayaks and paddleboards so you do not have to strap your own to the roof.

Denison exists because the Missouri Kansas Texas railroad decided it should, and in April 2026 the museum moved out of its Main Street storefront and into the Katy Depot itself. The collection runs to artifacts, photographs and railroad memorabilia, plus rolling stock including a caboose and a dining car you can walk through.

Volunteers staff it and admission is free. Older directory listings still show the museum at 124 W Main St, which is the building it left, so navigate to the depot.

Perrin Field trained pilots from 1941 until the base closed in 1971, and the civilian airport that replaced it still carries the name. The museum's 7,300 square foot building opened on 2 October 2010, and the Bill and Peggy Byers Hangar extension opened on 15 May 2021.

Aircraft on display include a Cessna T-37 and an F-86L Sabre, alongside engines, uniforms and squadron material. Admission is free and donations are the funding, and the volunteers who run it know the field first hand.

The nonprofit behind it formed in 1966 to gather Grayson County's oldest buildings into one place, in a park the Civilian Conservation Corps built during the Depression. Log cabins and houses dating from the 1830s through 1900 were relocated here, along with a replica pioneer courthouse, a newspaper office, a dentist office and a barber shop. Five of the homes carry Texas Historical Markers.

A county museum was added in 1990 and a research center in 2002. Published counts of how many buildings are on the grounds range from eleven to about twenty five depending on whether outbuildings are included, so take any specific number you read with salt.

Say When put its first beer on the market in January 2021 as a production only brewery, then opened the downtown taproom in November 2022. It is the one place in town where the beer is brewed rather than just poured.

The kitchen runs pizza, there is outdoor seating, live music turns up regularly, and it stays open later than most of Main Street. Ironroot handles the whiskey side of the same afternoon.