Amenthal

The Baineses' daughter Rebekah, Lyndon Johnson's mother, grew up partly in this house. Born at McKinney in 1881, she moved with the family to Austin in 1883 and to Blanco in 1887. Between 1901 and 1905 she studied literature at Baylor University, the University of Texas and Baylor Female College without taking a degree. After her father's death in 1906 she taught elocution and wrote for daily newspapers, and as a reporter she met Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr., whom she married on August 20, 1907. Later she helped publish the weekly Johnson City Record Courier.

What the plaque says

Amenthal Constructed of native stone quarried near the site, this home was built in 1882-83 in Pittsburg (later annexed by Blanco) by Irish craftsman Laurence H. Wall. The total construction cost was $1,000. John Wilson Baines and his wife Ruth Ament Huffman (later grandparents of Lyndon Baines Johnson) purchased the home in 1887 and named it Amenthal. The house changed ownership several times after the Baines family left in 1904. Andrew J. Wagner purchased it in 1918, two years before he was elected county sheriff. The house remained in the Wagner family until 1943. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park — 12 mi
  The Johnson City district of the national park: the Victorian house where Lyndon Johnson grew up, and the stone barns his grandfather built in the Johnson Settlement.
• Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site — 16 mi
  A state park on the Pedernales opposite the LBJ Ranch, with a working Texas-German farm kept as it was around the First World War and the permit desk for the ranch tour.
• Pedernales Falls State Park — 18 mi
  The Pedernales stepping down over layered limestone east of Johnson City, a river that can turn from a placid stream to a torrent in minutes.
• Luckenbach — 21 mi
  A store, saloon and dance hall on Grape Creek that a humorist bought in 1971, declared a free state of mind, and turned into a pilgrimage for Texas music.

More markers nearby

• Jesse L. McCrocklin — 0.4 mi
• Blanco High School — 0.7 mi
• First Baptist Church of Blanco — 1.0 mi
• Mt. Horeb Baptist Church — 6.6 mi