Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site

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Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site

Location	Gillespie County, Texas
Nearest city	Stonewall
Coordinates	30°14′15″N 098°37′34″W / 30.2375, -98.62611
Area	732.75 acres
Established	1965
Governing body	Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site is a state park 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.

1 History
2 Features
- 2.1 Sauer-Beckmann Farmstead
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] 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) for the park and donated the land to the State of Texas in 1965. The 269-acre (1.09 km²) facility 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 732.75 acres (2.9653 km²).

[edit] Features

The park has a large visitor center complex with interpretive center about Johnson's life. Tours of the LBJ Ranch are conducted by the National Park Service, with buses departing from the state park's visitor center.

The park offers recreational facilities for swimming, tennis and baseball. Fishing is allowed in the Pedernales River and there is a nature trail for hiking. The park maintains small herds of Texas Longhorn cattle, American Bison and White-tailed Deer.

[edit] Sauer-Beckmann Farmstead

A park interpreter demonstrates a typical rural kitchen of 1918 at 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 1800s and then by Herman Beckmann and his sons in the early 1900s.