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Contact: Sherry Justus, 830-868-7128 ext. 245 Johnson City, Texas -- Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park invites everyone to experience "Timeless Christmas at the LBJ Boyhood Home and the Johnson Settlement" on December 8, 2007. National park rangers will provide an open house of these historic sites, all decked out for a Christmas celebration in the 1920s and the 1860s from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The LBJ Boyhood Home will be lamp lit, giving visitors an opportunity to experience family life at the Johnsons' house as it was more than eighty years ago. National park rangers and volunteers team up to portray a 1920s Christmas, complete with Christmas caroling, a cedar tree in the parlor adorned with handmade ornaments and a toy display beneath, and authentic decorations and seasonal goodies throughout the home. This experience is a great contrast to the lights display of Lights Spectacular in the rest of Johnson City. Visitors can also board the shuttle bus at the back gate for a five-minute ride to the Johnson Settlement, where they are guided by lantern light even further back in time to a late 1860s Christmas in frontier Texas. The Exhibit Center will be open for visitors wanting to immerse themselves in what life was like on those cattle drives of long ago, or learn about Lyndon Johnson’s ancestors and what their lives were like on the settlement lands and about other families who came after them and farmed this harsh land. Further up the path is the original Sam Ealy Johnson cabin, where Lyndon Johnson's grandparents first homesteaded in 1869. Here the lighting is provided by candles, oil lamps, and two fireplaces. The decorations here are much simpler, but there is also a tree and some toys, as well as seasonal music. Just as strangers were welcomed in the past, visitors are offered refreshments before they strike out again on the trail home. The LBJ NHP Visitor Center, located at 100 Ladybird Lane, will also be open and provides lighted parking to visitors. The park store, with a great selection of books and gift ideas for all ages, will be offering a 15% discount on all purchases the evening of December 8, 2007. These park events are free of charge and are complemented by the stunning lighted display at the Pedernales Electric Cooperative, across the street from the LBJ Boyhood Home, with majestic live oaks resplendent in hundreds of thousands of tiny white lights. In addition, the Blanco County Courthouse, just two blocks north of the Boyhood Home on Avenue G, is the centerpiece of the town's seasonal celebration, "Lights Spectacular", and is not to be missed. The turn for the LBJ Boyhood Home is just three blocks (turn left onto Avenue G) west of the intersection of Highways 281 and 290 in Johnson City. Parking is available in the Visitor Center lot at Avenue G and Ladybird Lane. For detailed directions or additional information, please call (830) 868-7128, extension 244. |
Last updated: February 24, 2015