Journey Back to LBJ Country

Fredericksburg, Texas and the Hill Country

By Susan Scott Schmidt

I never visited Texas until mid-life, but I knew all about Lyndon Baines Johnson.  LBJ was the first modern President I can remember. 

In 1963, Johnson was catapulted into the Presidency by John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas. On the 40th anniversary, I traveled back to LBJ country in the Texas Hills. Along the way, I also discovered the quaint German town of Fredericksburg.

In the 1960's, we were an LBJ family.   My father was a Texan and he was born in the same town as Johnson's mother - McKinney, Texas.  He pledged his loyalty to the 36th President.   At election time, we chanted "All the way with LBJ."  Our tortoiseshell cat was named Ladybird. We watched the frothy televised weddings of Lucy and Lyndabird with delight and fascination.

If you're from Pittsburgh, your first question about the Texas hill country is "where are the hills?" These mild slopes of Texas grassland would be considered  nothing in the Steel City.

There are two LBJ attractions in the Hill Country - the LBJ National Park, which encompasses his ranch (14 miles west of Johnson City),  a main visitor center in Johnson City on Ladybird Lane, his boyhood home and the Johnson settlement.   A second attraction, the LBJ State Historical Park near Stonewall, also has a visitors center and a working German farm

On the day I arrived at the LBJ ranch for the $3 bus tour, it was cold and drizzling.   But you could see why Johnson was proud of his 2718-acre "spread." (Ranches are status symbols in Texas.)  The hour and a half  tour plays recordings of LBJ and his favorite songs, while the guides dissect the  larger-than-life personality of the 36th President, a man who "set out to be big and to do big things." Bison and  black buck antelope roam on the ranch lands with cottonwood trees , which are along the Pedernales river. 

I learned all kinds of good trivia. Johnson bought the ranch in 1951 from his aunt.  Ladybird is still alive, at 91, and comes down from Austin to weekend here, so the ranch is still under Secret Service protection.  I saw his  28-room "Texas White House" home (from the outside) and his  fleet of cars, which includes an amphi-car convertible, which he used to terrorize his guests. Johnson's idea of a good joke was to start out in the car, not telling guests it was amphibious, and let it roll into the water, claiming that the brakes were failing. Some, like young Joseph Califano, would start to jump out, before realizing that the car could navigate in water.

The bus also stops at the family cemetery, where his great-grandparents are buried and the 1850's  dogtrot house his forbears lived in.

Fourteen miles from the ranch, in Johnson City, is the boyhood home and national visitors center.  Johnson's father, Sam, was a six-term state legislator who sent out postcards of LBJ at his birth to all his colleagues. Johnson was campaigning with his father from the age of 10.  Sam also dealt in cotton futures and cattle and cut hair on the weekend.  His mother, Rebekah, was more refined.  As she followed Sam to Johnson City, she found herself as an educated woman trapped in a small Texas town.   I visited the boyhood home, around the block from the Historical Center, and saw the porch swing where his mother taught the local schoolchildren. She also directed local plays and edited the newspaper. The guides attribute Johnson's interest in education to her.

At the national historical center, I found two movies about the Johnson's and toured the exhibit about his career. Both treat the Vietnam War issue and Great Society in a fair and balanced way.   Near the town of Stonewall, I also visited the state park, which has a working German farm called the Sauer-Beckman farm, where they were cooking German food and making fresh curd cheese.

German Fredericksburg

After steeping myself in LBJ, I moved on to Fredericksburg.  In addition to LBJ country, this is German country. The charming German town of Fredericksburg is considered one of the Hill country's most romantic destinations. Texans travel here to get married or have a weekend getaway from Austin or San Antonio. 

Fredericksburg was settled in 1846  by German farmers who came to Texas on a Spanish land grant. They named their town after King Frederick of Prussia, who was popular. The Germans actually designed the streets so the first letters spell out W-E-L-C-O-M-E on one side and C-O-M-E-B-A-C-K on the other side. They were given two plots per family - one in the country and one in town. In town, they built small one-room buildings called "Sunday houses," where they weekended and went to church.  Fredericksburg is well known for the Sunday houses, some of which have been turned into guest houses.

A German dialect is still spoken here, and I found plenty of German food. Dietz Bakery has magnificent cinnamon buns. They open their doors at 8 a.m. and stay open until they run out of baked goods to sell. The sausage at Opa's is also worth trying.

For good Texas barbeque, I made my way to the Grape Creek Country Market.  True to Texas form, it's served in simple steam tables outside the restaurant. The Native American barbeque master starts at 6 a.m. by putting on the briskets.  He then moves on to pork shoulder, chicken, ribs and chopped meat.  You can order any of it sliced, then add Texas beans, white bread, coleslaw and apple pie. It's a good artery-buster dinner, all for under $10.

New Age Fredericksburg B Butterflies, Herbs, Art Galleries and Tea

On the other extreme, I found the New Age chi-chi side of Fredericksburg. The town has places for Ladies Who Lunch. One café I loved was Rather Sweet (owned by the Rather family, of course), with its cheddar and bacon scone, something I'd never seen in Pittsburgh.  Rather Sweet has excellent baked goods and a trendy selection of soups, desserts and sandwiches.  The Peach Tree Tea Room and Gift Gallery served a good homemade bread selection in a dainty metal bucket and  traditional ladies' sandwiches like chicken salad with walnuts and peach mayonnaise. 

My favorite place hands-down  was the Fredericksburg Herb Farm. Founded by a local nurseryman,  the farm promises "Peas and Quiet" to those who visit and "Take Thyme for Tea."   It's got a gigantic herb garden, a day spa, a café, and homemade candles and herbal products. (The herb farm's steadiest customers are Japanese companies who order candles by the thousands.)  It's well known for its Star Garden, laid out like the Star of Texas.  The Varneys, who founded it, have made an international reputation for themselves in edible flower products, which are for sale.  I walked along touching  the rosemary plants, which grow like gangbusters in Texas, and feeling peaceful myself. 

At the Fredericksburg Butterfly Ranch, owner Deborah Payne is on a one-woman crusade to educate the public about butterflies. She focuses only on Texas butterflies. "I tell you what not to squish in your garden," she said, as she led a tour through her butterfly house.

The Museum of the Pacific War and the Hangar Hotel

There is also a military side to the Hill Country. I was surprised that I enjoyed the National Museum of the Pacific War, because war displays aren't usually my cup of tea.  The museum, which is heavily supported by the Bush family, has great displays on World Wars I and II, including facsimiles of submarines, uniforms, and the original copy of Albert Einstein's letter to FDR informing him of the dangers of uranium and the atom bomb. 

In the military spirit, I stayed at The Hangar Hotel, just outside town,  which opened just six months ago. The hotel, built to resemble an airplane hangar, actually sits right next to the Gillespie County airport runway. If you happen to have a private plane, as many Texans apparently do, you can pull right up to the hotel. If you're an airplane fan, you can watch all the takeoffs and landings from the hotel balcony.

The hotel=s military motif runs throughout, from the Officer's Club bar to the olive drab blanket draped over the bed. The chairs are made of bomber jacket leather.   1940's music is piped in. Palm trees sway outside in the breeze       

Hippie Hill Country -- Rock and Roll Jam Session in Luckenbach, Texas

My visit to Fredericksburg would not have been complete without a side trip to Luckenbach, a former cowboy town which has become a famous hippie hangout.  Luckenbach has a permanent population of two and boasts two buildings B post office and dance hall. As the story goes, the founding family put the town on the market in the 1970's and sold it to an old hippie cowboy named Hondo Crouch. Crouch liked the idea of owning his own incorporated town, where he could indulge his fondness for controlled substances and rock >n= roll.

Crouch is long since dead (they put up a statue to him in memorial), but the spirit of Luckenbach lives on. On the Saturday we visited, a bikers' rally was in progress, with popup tents camped near the cottonwood trees by the river.  We met the deputy sheriff in the post office/general store, who gave us a tour.  While he was reciting the history of Luckenbach,  three spotted geckos leapt out of his dusty file folder. One became so frightened it lost its tail. While the tail wiggled wildly by itself on the store counter, he scooped up the geckos and put them back in the file and re-filed it, not missing a beat.

A cowboy jam session was underway in the bar in the back of the store.  Luckenbach was immortalized by a song recorded by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Two cowboys played it for us. Everyone else was swilling beer and comparing motorcycle patches. There's not much to do in Luckenbach but drink beer and hang out. There's not much to buy either, except bumper stickers, armadillo dolls, Indian jewelry and ten-gallon hats.

Information

To reach Fredericksburg, fly into San Antonio or Austin, Texas.  It's an hour and a half drive to the Texas hill country.   In addition to the Hangar Hotel, there are more than 300 B & B's in the Fredericksburg area.

The Hangar Hotel --- 830-997-9990 or www.hangarhotel.com

Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical  Park, near Stonewall - 830-644-2252

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Johnson City - 830-868-7128

Fredericksburg Herb Farm - 800-259-HERB

Fredericksburg Butterfly Ranch - 830-990-0735

National Museum of the Pacific War - 830-997-4379

Grape Creek Country Market - 830-990-4063

The Peach Tree Gift Gallery and Tea Room - 830-997-9527

Rather Sweet Bakery and Café - 830-990-0498

In San Antonio:

The Emily Morgan Hotel - 210-225-5100 or www.emilymorganhotel.com

Guenther House - 210-227-1061

Beto's Latin Grill - 210-930-9393

Casa Rio - 210-225-2216 or www.casa-rio.com