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Road Dispatch Archives
Road Dispatch 1- Port Aransas, Texas
Road Dispatch 2 - Virginia City, Nevada
Road Dispatch 3 - LBJ Wildflower Center
Road Dispatch 4 - Garden of the Gods

Road Dispatch 5 - LBJ National Historical Park

 

We all dream of it while we work, play, dream, daydream, even drive...to work. We want to travel, get out on the road or hop into a plane or ship or canoe. To see the world, to experience the beauty and mystery and excitement all around us. But, at GeographicWest we hope you can take that trip with us. Through words and pictures, we would like you go on the road with us, to interesting, exciting, relaxing and even magical places. This series of Road Dispatches will be made available to you one per month, maybe sooner. We too want to get out on the road...let's go.

lyndon b johnson and ladybird johnson in a field of flowers holding hands

GeographicWest Road Dispatch Number 5

The Hill Country and the LBJ National Historical Park
May, 2009

STONEWALL, TEXAS – Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States, would speak often of his beloved Texas Hill Country Ranch and the Pedernales River he could view from his front porch. So much so, the Texas White House, the traveling road show that brought everyone from the Secret Service to world leaders to this famed residence in south central Texas, would evolve into over 500 days of his presidency at his ranch. Sitting beneath a four hundred year-old oak tree on the ranch house porch, LBJ and his guests could gaze across the expansive lawn toward the sparkling blue-green Pedernales, a seminal river piercing the heart of the Texas Hill Country, tributary of the Colorado River, and so much a part of LBJ’s entire life.

 

Fast Facts
Location:
Entrance off Texas State Highway 290
Distance to Austin
Distance to San Antonio
Distance to Johnson City
Distance to Fredericksburg
77.4 Miles
69.5 Miles
15.8 Miles
14.3 Miles
Days of Operation:
Seven Days per Week
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years
9:00am-5:00pm
Entrance Fees:

Driving Permits – Free
Presidential Office Tour - $1.00

Elevation (Stonewall):

1,467 Feet

GPS Coordinates:
30.235N 98.664W
Visitors per Year:

80,000+

Johnson City Pop.:
Fredericksburg:
1,528
10,783
Things to Do:
Ranch Tour, Picnicking, Photography,
Learn a thing or two at the Visitor Center

lbj ranch map fredericksburg texas

The Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, containing the LBJ Ranch, the original farm house where LBJ was born and other fascinating sites, sits just off Texas State Highway 290. The Park is halfway between the town of Fredericksburg and Johnson City.

It is in Fredericksburg that our journey began. The town was originally settled in 1846 by German immigrants. That German theme permeates this city named for Prince Frederick of Prussia. Most of the attractions of the city are on either side of Main Street; shops, restaurants, antique stores. The city of 12,000 residents is also the home of famed World War Two Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz. An ever growing museum is fascinating and worth the time to browse through the exhibits.

On the 290, eastbound toward the Johnson National Park, stop at Wildseed Farms and bring your camera, especially in the spring and summer. A full color palate of flower fields surrounds the farm. Specialty foods, seeds, gifts, it’s a wonderful stop and impossible to walk out of the main buildings without buying something.

But it is in the heart of the Texas Hill Country at the Johnson National Historical Park that you really see why the President loved this country so much. The Hill Country is just that, rolling hills with endless stands of Cedar and full of wildlife.

Drive downroad past the entrance just off of 290 to the Visitor Center where you can pick up a free pass from the Park Rangers allowing you to drive through the 1,570 acres along Ranch Road One. You cannot see the “Western White House” from the 290, so take the time to drive through the acres of rolling hills, observe small herds of cattle restocked after Lady Bird sold the original herd shortly after the President’s death.

And when you stop along the road to take a picture, pause, just listen to gentle wind, the birds and the peaceful quiet that permeates your body to the bone. Your blood pressure slows as you follow the horizon to this magical place Lyndon Johnson called home.

When you do get to the main Ranch House, park and walk to the Visitor’s Entrance and meet up with the very friendly and knowledgeable Park Ranger docent. It is only with that Ranger that you will be allowed into the home. Later this year the entire home will be open, for now it is worth the time to walk with the Ranger to the entrance of the house and directly into Lyndon Johnson’s Texas White House office.

The Ranger described to this writer and several other guests that the office has been left exactly as Lyndon Johnson used it until his death, January 22, 1973. You can see his green desk chair, his glasses resting on his desk pad, and the full color portrait of Johnson over the fireplace. The Ranger went down the list of world leaders who had stood exactly where we were standing and that the whispers and ghosts of those days still seem to linger in the air. It was upon that description that our group and the Ranger suddenly fell silent, an eerie silence that lasted only until some nervous laughter moved the group quickly out of the office and house. Touring under the four hundred year old giant oak on the front lawn and looking past, you will see the Pedernales shimmering in a bright sun the day of our visit. It is quiet there now, but the meetings, the Bar B Que’s, the parties all are now only history, but your imagination takes you back, faint whispers of music, laughter and curling smoke above the BBQ pits. Anyone who had lived and witnessed the turbulent 60’s and had seen the network news film of those days…on that ranch…the escapee’s or survivors of those times who now see that ranch and stand on that spot where giants once stood are startled and then stilled by that permeating quiet.

Driving out and away from the house you will come to the house where LBJ was born and the cemetery where the President is now buried. Quiet and still as well, only the low tones of visitors showing respect, whatever their current or past political views.

And toward the end of the tour as you make your exit away from that patch of history, you drop off the narrative CD that has been playing in your auto sound system. I recommend you take that offered compact disk from the Ranger at the beginning of your Park visit, where you hear recordings of the President. You also will hear detailed history of the Park with fascinating anecdotes from the historical life and that was once a part of the Lyndon Johnson National Historical Park.

It is well worth the visit and well worth a detour from The Road. Until the next Road Dispatch, KEEP ROLLING!!

 

Photolog:
 
lbj ranch trees and pasture
The Hill Country should also be called The Tree Country…
Cedar and Oak abound
   
downtown frederickburg texas sidewalk shops
Downtown Fredericksburg, the tourist section
   
1897 schandua flag building frederickburg tx
Beautiful old buildings line Main Street, Fredericksburg
   

lbj souvenirs lbj fredericksburg art
Typical stashes of souvenirs can be found everywhere

   
der lindenbaum german restaurants fredericksburg
One of many German restaurants
   
german sausage bratwurst quiche
This selection repeated at many of those restaurants
   
rawhide building fredricksburg texas
   
lyndon b johnson national park entrance
Entrance
   
lbj ranch hereford bulls working corrals
The LBJ Ranch was a working ranch
   
36th president lbj birthplace
The Ranch House
   
across the river pedernales
Across the front yard to the Pedernales
   


texas white house lbj lyndon fate of the world lawn chairs
Lawn chairs and the fate of the world…in the 1960’s

texas white house office lbj ranch
The Texas White House Office

   

lyndon baines johnson portrait - fireplace and gun rifle
The Office fireplace and portrait of President Lyndon Baines Johnson

lbj ranch road one
Ranch Road One

   
Pedernales river garden front yard lbj
The Pedernales River
   
hereford steer lbj ranch short horn
An LBJ Ranch Steer, up close and personal, too close
 
wildseed wildflower farm entrance
Wildseed retail garden and seed complex
 
wildseed wildflower garden cactus
Outside gardens
 
wildseed porcelain ceramic art animals
Wildseed table goods
 
patch of green on trees
A patch of Hill Country Green
 
lyndon b johnsons dinner chair table silverware
THE CHAIR
 
 
 
End Road Dispatch

 

 

 
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