This holiday season, discover precious bits of American (and Hill Country) history through lamplight tours of Johnson City’s LBJ Boyhood Home.
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Editor’s Note: Last month, thanks to underwriting support by the Science Mill, we shared the story of Johnson City’s legendary Lights Spectacular as it celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. For December, again with the Science Mill’s patronage, we’re taking a closer look at another shining star in Johnson City’s holiday crown.
Story by Pamela Price
Standing on the front porch of the small Hill Country house known now as the LBJ Boyhood Home, it’s fun to wonder whether the small boy who once slept inside ever dreamed where life would take him.
The late president was born in 1908 a few miles away in Stonewall—known more now to most Texans for its famous spring peach crop than as the birthplace of the 36th President of the United States.
Later, when LBJ was 5, the family moved to Johnson City, settling into the one-story, Victorian-style building constructed in 1886. There the young man who would come to play such an important role in American politics and culture would reside until his high school graduation.
According to the Handbook of Texas, it was on the house’s east porch that LBJ made his first political speech during his 1937 Congressional bid, just three years after his marriage to Claudia Alta (“Lady Bird”) Taylor.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Shedding light on the past
Today the property belongs to the National Park Service, part of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park (Facebook). While many travelers venture to the Hill Country to visit the more famous LBJ Ranch, hardcore history buffs know that the smaller house offers a nostalgic glimpse into the president’s early years.
Those historic insights are most vivid at Christmastime. That’s when the home is decked out in 1920s era holiday decor. On select evenings, it’s also illuminated in a manner reminiscent of President Johnson’s formative years.
“A connection we like to make for visitors is that the home would have been lit by kerosene when he lived here,” said Brian Vickers, Supervisory Park Ranger. “Our annual lamplight tours give visitors a better sense of what that might have looked like.”
Given the significant, well-documented role LBJ played in bringing electricity to rural Americans—including the Hill Country region—and his work with the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), Vickers noted that the late president helped pave the way for his hometown’s legendary Lights Spectacular.
The best way to grasp those deep connections between past and present is, of course, to see the home in person—ideally while Lights Spectacular is underway, in all its twinkling glory.
If that sounds like something you might enjoy witnessing firsthand, you’re in luck.
Christmas lamplight tours
For December 2019, the LBJ Boyhood Home will be open for free lamplight evening tours on the first two Saturdays of the month. (Regular daytime tours remain in effect all month. Details can be found here.)
On Saturday, December 7, the LBJ Boyhood Home’s lamplight tours will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. in conjunction with the National Park Service’s A Frontier Christmas at the nearby Johnson Settlement. The historic settlement was where LBJ’s grandfather, Sam E. Johnson, Sr. homesteaded in the late 1800s.
A Frontier Christmas is an incredible opportunity to peak into several decades of Hill Country living.
“We’ll have buses running from the LBJ Boyhood Home to the settlement every 30 minutes for people who don’t want to make the short walk on their own,” said Vickers. “At 7 p.m., we’ll have a guided hike from the house to the cabin. This will be a night hike with a park ranger, and it will give visitors a sense of what the night sky used to look like.”
Vickers added that cider and cookies will be available at the dog-trot cabin, served up by women dressed in 1870s clothing. An all ages experience, A Frontier Christmas also includes a children’s activity and live music in the event center plus a chuckwagon with cowboy stories and poetry.
“We presented A Frontier Christmas up until 2015 and then went another direction for awhile,” Vickers said. “This year, we’re going back to the old way, to something more sedate.”
The following Saturday, December 14, the LBJ Boyhood Home will be open for evening tours from 6 to 9 p.m. A more subdued affair than A Frontier Christmas, the December 14 event does precede the 50th annual lighting of the LBJ tree at Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm on Sunday, December 15 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. So, if you were looking to really dive into the park, that weekend is a good excuse to plan a getaway weekend.
Whichever evening you choose to drop into the house this holiday season, you and yours are sure to catch sight of old-fashioned Hill Country Christmas spirit.
Indeed, between the goings on at the national park and Lights Spectacular downtown, Johnson City is a close-to-home adventure worth the trip for December.
Thanks to our sponsor, Science Mill (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter), for underwriting this story. Situated only a few blocks away from the LBJ Boyhood Home in Johnson City, the world-class science museum offers permanent exhibits and a lively, ever-changing events calendar. During Lights Spectacular, the museum will have extended hours on select December evenings. Need a stocking stuffer or a STEM-themed present for a beloved child? Check out their store. Finally, note that tickets are available now for the museum’s popular Snow Day at the Science Mill (Saturday, January 18, 2020, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.).
