Lyndon B. Johnson State Park

At the beginning of the month we drove up to the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historical Site in Stonewall.

Upon arrival everyone has to stop by the visitor center to get a parking permit. Parking permits and admission to the park is free but if you want to tour the Texas White House I think it’s $3 per adult. We didn’t do the tour though and tickets are actually not purchased at the visitor’s center for that. They are purchased at the hangar. While at the visitor’s center you can also take a look at the gift shop, purchase a water, look at the exhibits outside, and watch the film on LBJ. We didn’t look at the exhibits but we did watch the film and we were the only ones in the theater. The film is about 20 minutes long I believe.

Once the film was over we went back to the car and drove to the parking lot directly in front of the Sauer-Beckerman Living History Farm.

We went through fairly quickly because it was hot but it was interesting. It’s a living history farm so there are two houses that you can walk in and take a look at and the park employees are dressed in period attire. We went into the kitchen of the bigger house and the employee in there was cleaning up from lunch. Had we come earlier we would have seen her cooking lunch. They cook a meal like they would have during the time period which I believe was early 1900s. They use seasonal ingredients that are grown on the farm. When we were there lunch was mashed potatoes with gravy, tomatoes, okra, and maybe beans. I can’t remember whether or not there was a type of meat. It was really interesting to hear about the different kinds of foods they would use.

Once we left the farm we got back in the car to drive through the LBJ Ranch tour. Right before you enter the ranch there is the Junction Schoolhouse that LBJ attended. You can just park on the side of the road and walk up to take a look.

Once you enter the Ranch you can see the house LBJ was born in. Again there is a space on the side for you to park so that you can get out but you can only look at the house from the outside. Connor was hoping to be able to go inside since he had seen the house in the film at the visitor center. You can also stop off at the family’s cemetery as well as at any of the other stops which had boards with information about different things around the ranch.

We drove straight though and I just slowed down to see the title of boards (they aren’t really boards but I don’t know what else to call them). Once we arrived at the Hangar we did park and take a look at the plane and then we went inside. Inside they have some more exhibits including telephones that you could pick up and listen to a conversation between LBJ and someone else. The boys really liked the telephones. Connor was especially fascinated with the phones because they were rotary and he wanted to know how to dial. There was also another gift shop.

The hangar was also by the Texas White House and so this where you could purchase your tickets and where the tour picks up from. Once we left here that was the end of the drive through tour and we exited the ranch and the park. I enjoyed it though and it made for a nice day trip.