LBJ State and National parks, Johnson City

Walk in a president’s footsteps at the LBJ State Park and the separate LBJ National Park between Johnson City and Stonewall on U.S. 290.

“All the world is welcome here,” President Lyndon Bains Johnson said of his boyhood home and the ranch he rebuilt and turned into the “second White House.” As president, he often conducted business under the spreading oak trees on his ranch, hosting dignitaries and the White House press corps who followed him everywhere.

The 717-acre LBJ State Park offers visitors an intimate look at America’s 36th president. You’ll get a real feel for the life of a young man destined to be one of the great presidents of the United States.

The LBJ National Historic Park features the original Johnson settlement, LBJ’s boyhood home, the LBJ ranch house and the Johnson Family Cemetery.

For a look at how Johnson’s ancestors lived when they first settled the area, visit the two-room dogtrot Behrens Cabin, which is attached to the visitor’s center. The cabin includes furnishings typical of the 1870s, when Johnson’s people first came to the area.

At the Sauer-Beckmann Farm, costumed interpreters demonstrate rural life from 1900 to 1918. The state park is home to plenty of wildlife, including the American bison.

For more about the National Historical Park, call (830) 868-7128. For more about LBJ State Historical Park, call (830) 644-2252. Visit the LBJ Naitonal Historical Park website at www.nps.gov/lyjo/index.htm and the LBJ State Park website at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/lyndon-b-johnson.