Branson has a reputation as being one of America’s favorite family-oriented tourist destinations. Most people never wander beyond the newer parts of the Branson where the resorts and most of the attractions are situated. There is also a downtown core where the town began, which is worth visiting and exploring.
Branson was founded in 1903 and incorporated in 1912. Early in the city’s history its citizens began focusing on developing its tourist trade, including the creation of parks and public events, like parades. The tourists came and later so did the shows that have become a staple of Branson.
Downtown Branson is home to several hundred businesses, including a variety of restaurants, snack shops, an interesting assortment of shops, and a few theaters. It’s not a particularly large area and is quite walkable, but there is also the option of hopping on the free free Downtown Trolley.
We started with tasty breakfast at the historic Branson Cafe, then crossed the street and had a delightful time browsing through Dick’s 5 & 10. Apparently there are 250,000 items for sale here at the five and dime, of amazing variety.
What follows is a sampling of some of the places we visited in historic downtown Branson:
This was a particularly cool fossil shop…
A small park in downtown has a nice tribute to the military.
Finally, it was spring and the beautiful buds of eastern redbud bushes were everywhere!
