A Walk Through History: LBJ Ranch

Can you imagine trotting along this dirt road on a sleek black horse? I can feel my long bushy skirt and petticoat swishing along in the dust. I hear chickens clucking, horses snorting, and dogs barking over cornbread scraps. I see children playing in the grass beside the house, and Pa in the fields plowing long, rocky rows. Ma's in the kitchen boiling water for a bath, and the cat is curled up on a cow skin chair on the front porch. I love history, and this park is a great one for "living" history. No, there weren't any actors there in period costumes, and so I didn't really "see or feel" any of these things...but my imagination made them real.

Last month, we took a group of youth and young adults on a camping trip to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. On the way to the park, we stopped at the Ranch of Former President LBJ's Grandfather. There were two horses eating in the fields, but they weren't snorting or trotting... They made the scene peaceful, tranquil, and a little more like the olden days.

Here's a photo of Jason and me with Alberta and Canray, two of the youth who came on our camping trip with us.

This view is of the barn, with quarters for hired help. Notice the stone wall on the right.

There were a few chickens clucking in the yard, but no cat sleeping on the cow skin chairs on the porch. This is a side view of the frontier home.

This tree is really a great one for photos and to climb on. It is a very old live oak tree--they are very common down here. We actually have one in our backyard at home.

Jason getting ready to step onto the back porch of the frontier home. Those two scrubby bushes are rosemary...umm they smell really good! --tastes good in Italian food, too!

Me and Jason sitting on a rustic, wooden bench on the back porch.

In the distance, behind Jason, you can see the frontier house on the left and the barn on the right. This part of the dirt road lead down to another barn where there were two long-horn cattle. One of the longhorns got a little agitated and tried to gouge his horn through the log fence. We all stood WAY back after that... (no worries, no one was in any danger)

Here's a nice shot of Jason, Alberta, Canray and Sruti looking down the original well. It was very deep and had some water in the bottom.

Click on this photo to enlarge it--then you can read all about it! It's pretty interesting history...

On our way back to the car, we decided to snap one more photo! Notice the log fence on the right...pretty cool!