36th President Lives on at LBJ National Historical Park

Those visiting the area can learn about the life and legacy of the 36th President of the United States at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.

The park is divided into two components — one near Stonewall and one in Johnson City.

The LBJ Ranch makes up the Stonewall side of the park, while the LBJ Boyhood Home and the Johnson Settlement are located in Johnson City in Blanco County.

Special Events

Annual fall and winter events include Night Skies Over the LBJ Ranch on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Christmas at the Boyhood Home, a 1920s-style Christmas lamp-lit home tour, will take place on Saturday nights, Nov. 30, Dec. 7 and 14. It will be the 50th anniversary commemoration of Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.

The Dec. 7 event will also serve as a Frontier Christmas at the Johnson Settlement and showcase Christmas traditions from the 1860s. The event will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Visitors can enjoy cider and cookies at the log cabin of Lyndon Johnson’s grandparents, and visit with a chuck wagon cook as he shares stories over a campfire.

There will be music and crafts for children as well as a night hike for adventurous participants.

Beautiful old houses can be seen at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.

Stonewall District

The national park’s Stonewall District operating hours are 9 a.m.5 p.m. daily. The park is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. The park gate closes at 5:30 p.m. every day.

The first stop on any tour of the LBJ Ranch is at the LBJ State Park and Historic Site Visitor Center, which is located 17 miles east of Fredericksburg off of U.S. 290.

Free permits for the driving tour are available starting at 9 a.m. and continuing through 4 p.m.

The tour leads visitors onto Ranch Road 1 and crosses the Pedernales River near the Junction School where Lyndon Johnson began his education at age four.

The tour also stops at the President’s reconstructed birthplace, then the Johnson

The LBJ Ranch provides scenery, fun and history of one of the United States’ former Presidential families.

family cemetery, where President and Mrs. Johnson are laid to rest.

From there, tourists can visit the LBJ Ranch Hangar Visitor Center, where free tickets for the tours of the Texas White House grounds are obtained on a first-come, firstserved basis. The tours begin at 10 a.m. and run through 4 p.m. every day.

At this time, tours of the Texas White House interior are not available while structural repairs are underway.

Johnson City District

The Johnson City portion of the park is located 14 miles east of the LBJ Ranch in Blanco County.

The sites include a visitor center at 100 East Ladybird Lane, the LBJ Boyhood Home, and the Johnson Settlement. The center is open every day from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The park is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

The President’s boyhood home is open for guided tours from 10 a.m.4 p.m., excluding the noon hour.

Transporting visitors back to the early days of Texas, a visitor contact station is open in the Withers and Spaulding Building in downtown Johnson City. There, visitors can see how a general store looked around 1915.

More information on the park is available from the visitor center at 830-868-7128 or online at www. nps.gov/lyjo.

Standard-Radio Post/Joe Southern