Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site

This state park on the Pedernales River at Stonewall is the gateway to the LBJ Ranch, which lies across the river as part of the national historical park. The visitor center issues the free permit and map for the self-guided drive through the ranch, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The drive passes the reconstructed birthplace of Lyndon Johnson, born on August 27, 1908, the Junction School he started at the age of four in 1912, the Texas White House, and the family cemetery where he is buried. Senator and Mrs. Johnson bought the ranch, then 438 acres, in 1951.

The park tells a second story of its own. At the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm, rangers in period clothing raise crops, keep the animals and cook meals on a Texas-German farmstead kept as it was in the World War I era, and talk with visitors as they work. Next to the visitor center stands the Behrens Cabin, a two-room dogtrot built by the German immigrant H. C. Behrens in the 1870s, and a trail leads to the Danz family's log cabin of the 1860s.

Bison and longhorn cattle graze the pastures along the river. There are 1.2 miles of easy trails, a summer swimming pool, fishing in the river, and exhibits and films about Johnson in the visitor center.