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LBJ Ranch Doorbell, originally uploaded by David A G Wilson.

Last Tuesday, I spent the afternoon visiting the Lyndon Baines Johnson Ranch outside Johnson City. This was one of the tours organised for a group of foreign students who are visiting Austin during the Christmas break as part of the Christmas International House program.

Despite the fact that I’ve lived here for 14 years, I had never visited the ranch before. What a wasted opportunity! The park holds not just the ranch house but also a working farm modeled on the original 1915 homestead and staffed by excellent guides in period costume. As per LBJ’s instructions, the main ranch is still run as a going concern breeding a herd of Herefords so there are cowboys and cattle to see. The park also includes LBJ’s birthplace, the family cemetery, the one-room-schoolhouse where he started his education and the main “Texas White House” though the only room here which is open to the public currently is the office. Overall, it’s a great place to visit and outstanding value for money – the park is free to get into and the only fee is a mere $1 to take the (albeit short) guided tour at the Texas White House.

We only had a couple of hours to spend there but I’m already planning to go back on January 3rd to spend some time photographing the area.

This shot is of the doorbell to LBJ’s office which I found rather charming (and well-polished!).