by Stephanie SampsonOctober 17, 2016
We had our first out-of-town guests last week—John’s sister Mary and her husband Rob. We wanted to give them a taste of Hill Country, so we headed to the LBJ Boyhood Home and Ranch located about an hour west of our house.
Once in Johnson City, there are several places to visit, including the President Johnson’s boyhood home and the LBJ Ranch. It’s always interesting to hear about the early
influences on a president. Johnson’s father served years as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, and as a young boy Lyndon went with his dad on visits to constituents and eavesdropped on the back porch conversations his father had with neighbors and fellow politicians. He learned how to win friends and influence people from his mother, a speech and debate teacher who taught her children the essence of argument through mock debates waged at the kitchen table. And Johnson’s pursuit of Great Society legislation was surely driven by experiences growing up in a community where many people had no access to education or to conveniences such as electricity or running water; for example, Johnson fought in the late 1930s to bring electricity to the struggling farm communities in Central Texas “where the smoky lantern and the stifling kerosene lamp are still the chief sources of illumination, and elbow grease still the chief motive of power…”
Johnson seemed to have an almost obsessive need to be surrounded by people; for example, he insisted on going to school at the tender age of 4 because all his friends were there (he was so little he had to sit in the teacher’s lap for reading time).
Stephanie Sampson retired to Lakeway from Arlington, Virginia, in August 2016, after a 30-year career as a writer and editor on health and disability issues. A trip to Europe with her mother when she was 9 inspired a lifelong interest in travel and culture, and she’s looking forward to writing more about the history, food and people of Texas.
We had our first out-of-town guests last week—John’s sister Mary and her husband Rob. We wanted to give them a taste of Hill Country, so we headed to the LBJ Boyhood Home and Ranch located about an hour west of our house.To get there, we opted for the beautiful, winding Hamilton Pool Road that affords spectacular vistas of Hill Country. It is amazing how quickly one passes from a suburban to a rural environment here, from housing developments to the dense live oak and mesquite “bush.” A lot of the land is privately owned and used for cattle pasturage. There’s a beautiful crossing of the Pedernales River, too.
Once in Johnson City, there are several places to visit, including the President Johnson’s boyhood home and the LBJ Ranch. It’s always interesting to hear about the early
influences on a president. Johnson’s father served years as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, and as a young boy Lyndon went with his dad on visits to constituents and eavesdropped on the back porch conversations his father had with neighbors and fellow politicians. He learned how to win friends and influence people from his mother, a speech and debate teacher who taught her children the essence of argument through mock debates waged at the kitchen table. And Johnson’s pursuit of Great Society legislation was surely driven by experiences growing up in a community where many people had no access to education or to conveniences such as electricity or running water; for example, Johnson fought in the late 1930s to bring electricity to the struggling farm communities in Central Texas “where the smoky lantern and the stifling kerosene lamp are still the chief sources of illumination, and elbow grease still the chief motive of power…” Johnson seemed to have an almost obsessive need to be surrounded by people; for example, he insisted on going to school at the tender age of 4 because all his friends were there (he was so little he had to sit in the teacher’s lap for reading time).
Johnson had a deep, abiding love for Texas and essentially never left it. In the 1950s, he purchased a dilapidated ranch house and acreage from his uncle that had been in his family for decades (and where LBJ spent many summers) and turned it into a working cattle ranch. This became home. Moreover, the ranch became the first official presidential residence outside of Washington, D.C. In fact, LBJ and Lady Bird spent one-quarter of his presidential years at the ranch (which became known as the Texas White House). Johnson died at the ranch and is buried there with Lady Bird and his parents and grandparents.
Our field trip ended at the Hye Market, a little gem John had spotted on the way over to the ranch. Housed in a landmark 19th c. post office, I originally thought this was just a sandwich place. However, they are developing a line of gourmet products (including salsas, pickles and BBQ sauce) and are looking to become a destination restaurant. The owner Jason and I had a nice conversation about his aspirations. He is looking to model Hye Market after the Oakville Grocery in Napa Valley, which coincidentally we’ve actually been to. He said they source a lot of their food locally and smoke their own bacon using grapevine wood from local vineyards—have to admit I had the best BLT I’ve ever had!