Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park

The Texas White House

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is a 1,570-acre property located about 50 miles west of Austin, Texas. There are two sections to the Park. In Johnson City is the boyhood home of LBJ, his grandparent's log cabin settlement and the main National Park Service Visitor Center. The second section is about 14 miles west of there on the north shore of the Pedernales River at the LBJ Ranch. On the ranch is LBJ's birthplace, his first school, the area known as "the Texas White House" (because Johnson spent probably 20% of his time in office there) and the Johnson Family Cemetery where LBJ and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, are buried. That part of the ranch on the south side of the Pedernales River is operated as the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site. To visit LBJ Ranch one has to start by getting a permit from the State Park office and then take the self-guided auto tour.

Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the United States from the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated until Richard Nixon took over the office in 1969. What is preserved at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is the most complete record of the life of any American President, from his birthplace to his grave.

The Visitor Center in Johnson City is open from 9 am to 5 pm every day of the year except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Guided tours of the Johnson boyhood home are offered on the same days the Visitor Center is open, from 9 am to noon and from 1 pm to 4:30 pm. Tours run every half hour starting on the hour and half hour. Touring the Johnson Settlement is a self-guided thing, from 9 am to sunset. The trail there from the Visitor Center is about a one-mile round trip.

Self-guided driving tours of the LBJ Ranch require a permit from the State Park and they won't hand them out before 9 am. They stop at 4:15 pm. The gates to the ranch itself are open from 9 am to 4:30 pm, seven days a week. Guided tours of the Texas White House are offered from 10 am until 4:30 pm.

There are no fees involved to visit the property but donations are welcome. Tours of the Texas White House cost $3 per person age 18 and older (younger get in free).

Lyndon B. Johnson's birthplace