Points of interest thumb|left|Ellis County Historical Society Museum There are several museums and sites in Hays dedicated to aspects of area history. FHSU's Sternberg Museum of Natural History features extensive collections and exhibits of fossil specimens, including an interactive diorama of life in the region during the Cretaceous period. Affiliated with the university's Departments of Geosciences and Biology, the museum also hosts educational programs on fossil preparation and ongoing scientific research. The Ellis County Historical Society Museum, located downtown, maintains exhibits of artifacts from the area's Old West period through its settlement by Volga and Bukovina Germans. Included in the museum complex are the Volga German Haus, a reproduction of an early Volga German settler home, and a stone chapel constructed in 1879. Southwest of Hays, the Kansas Historical Society maintains the Fort Hays State Historic Site. It consists of four of the fort's original structures and a visitor's center. Other sites related to the area's frontier period include Boot Hill, the city's earliest cemetery, and a historical marker at the site of the ill-fated town of Rome.
Points of interest thumb|left|Ellis County Historical Society Museum There are several museums and sites in Hays dedicated to aspects of area history. FHSU's Sternberg Museum of Natural History features extensive collections and exhibits of fossil specimens, including an interactive diorama of life in the region during the Cretaceous period. Affiliated with the university's Departments of Geosciences and Biology, the museum also hosts educational programs on fossil preparation and ongoing scientific research. The Ellis County Historical Society Museum, located downtown, maintains exhibits of artifacts from the area's Old West period through its settlement by Volga and Bukovina Germans. Included in the museum complex are the Volga German Haus, a reproduction of an early Volga German settler home, and a stone chapel constructed in 1879 Southwest of Hays, the Kansas Historical Society maintains the Fort Hays State Historic Site. It consists of four of the fort's original structures and a visitor's center. Other sites related to the area's frontier period include Boot Hill, the city's earliest cemetery, and a historical marker at the site of the ill-fated town of Rome.