Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

located along the Pedernales River in Gillespie County, Texas, United States west of Johnson City and east of Fredericksburg. The state created the park with donated land to honor Lyndon B. Johnson as a "national and world leader." The park opened to the public in 1970 and is managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

History

Friends of Johnson raised the money to buy the land across the Pedernales River from Johnson's Ranch (now part of the

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in central Texas about west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. The park protects the birthplace, home, ranch, and final resting place of Lyndon B. Johnson, ...

) for the park and donated the land to the State of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1965. The master plan for the park was developed by

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

-area architect J. Roy White, a personal friend of the Johnson family who had worked extensively on the Johnson Ranch. White also designed the park's visitor center. The park was officially dedicated in August, 1970, in a ceremony attended by the Johnson family and a host of dignitaries. Since the dedication, the park has been expanded to approximately .

Features

The park has a large visitor center complex with an interpretive center about Johnson's life. Tours of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park are by permit only and are by self-guided driving tour departing from the state park's visitor center. The park offers recreational facilities for swimming,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

is allowed in the Pedernales River and there is a nature trail for hiking. The park maintains small herds of

Texas Longhorn cattle The Texas Longhorn is an American list of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle, characterized by its long horns, which can span more than from tip to tip. It derives from cattle brought from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas by Spanish con ...

and

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...

Sauer-Beckmann Farmstead

The Sauer-Beckmann Farmstead is a living history farm that presents rural Texas life as it was around 1918. The park employees wear period clothing and perform the daily routine of life using period tools and techniques. The farm was settled by John Sauer and his family in the late 19th century and then by Herman Beckmann and his sons in the early 20th century.

Nature

Animals

White-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

are often spotted within the park.

Flora

The park abounds with wildflowers during the spring and summer including Texas bluebonnets and Indian blankets. Trees documented in the park include southern catalpa,

cedar elm ''Ulmus crassifolia'' Nutt., the Texas cedar elm or simply cedar elm, is a deciduous tree native to south-central North America, mainly in southern and eastern Texas, southern Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, with small populations in western M ...

, Mexican buckeye, live oak,

ashe juniper ''Juniperus ashei'' (Ashe juniper, mountain cedar, blueberry juniper, post cedar, or just cedar) is a drought-tolerant evergreen tree, native from northeastern Mexico and the south-central United States to southern Missouri. The largest areas are ...

and

post oak ''Quercus stellata'', the post oak or iron oak, is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry areas on the edges of fields, tops of ridges also grows in poor soils, and is resistant to ro ...

References

*Parent, Laurence. ''The Official Guide to Texas State Parks''. University of Texas Press, Austin. Fourth printing, 2005. pp 90–91.

External links

Texas Parks and Wildlife: Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site

Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site in Google Cultural InstituteLyndon B. Johnson State Park in ''Exploring the Texas State Park System''
on the

Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyndon B. Johnson State Park And Historic Site State parks of Texas Protected areas of Gillespie County, Texas Museums in Gillespie County, Texas Living museums in Texas Farm museums in Texas Presidential museums in Texas Protected areas established in 1970 1970 establishments in Texas