Drive around LBJ Ranch ‘On Your Own’ in September
STONEWALL — The Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is testing a public-access alternative this month by allowing visitors to drive around the LBJ Ranch on self-guided tours.
The public will be invited to comment on several alternatives in the coming months and more information will be available in print and on the Internet, officials said.
The entrance to the park is one mile east of Stonewall on U.S. 290.
Park rangers also report an increase in visitation to the national park facilities in Johnson City, 15 miles east on U.S. 290.
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is located in the heart of the Hill Country.
The park has two visitor areas: the Johnson Settlement/Visitor Center/Boyhood Home/Park Headquarters in Johnson City and the LBJ Ranch near Stonewall. The Park Visitor Center in Johnson City is 50 miles west of Austin and 60 miles north of San Antonio. The state of Texas manages a Visitor Center near Stonewall where visitors can board the bus to the LBJ Ranch, which is managed by the National Park Service.
Visitors receive information and orientation to both parks and may receive a free entrance pass, maps and compact disk audio tour disk to guide them around the LBJ Ranch just north of the Pedernales River, and now operated by the National Park Service.
On the LBJ Ranch, visitors can learn about the Junction School attended by LBJ as a small child; his birthplace; the Johnson family cemetery; as well as the Ranch House, known as the Texas White House; and the show barn where descendants of LBJ’s Hereford herd may be seen.
The President’s Office in the west wing of the Ranch House is now open for the public to view. It has undergone restoration and is now as it was from 1963 to 1968. Exhibits of the era and Johnson’s cars are available for viewing in the hanger behind the Ranch House.
Visitors can tour the Johnson Settlement, dating from the late 1860s, President Johnson’s Childhood Home and the Exhibit Center, museum and viewing films of the LBJ era.