What is he pointing at?

Tonight we are in Fredericksburg, Texas, at a private campground, where we will be for the next five nights waiting out the conclusion of the spring school break when we will be able to get back in the Texas state parks.  To the west, half way between San Antonio and Austin, Fredericksburg was first settled by German farmers who began arriving in 1846. We haven't seen much of the town yet, but they have a very nice HEB supermarket, the first real grocery store we have shopped at in three plus weeks. Fresh fruits and vegetables never looked so good!

After un-hitching, to get a little exercise, we drove 10 miles to the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park. Yes, the 36th president of the United States was born here, on the banks of the Pedernales River. The National Park Service administers tours of LBJ's birthplace, the school he attended as a child, the Texas White House, and his place of rest. We didn't take in any of these offerings, instead we opted for a hiking trail that took us to the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm and then through some of the state park grounds. A working farm, it recreates Texas Hill Country life as it appeared at the turn of the 20th Century.

Nice Visitor's Center.

This is a pecan tree one of many in this area of the state as well as in the Big Bend area. Early settlers used and enjoyed the nuts in candies and pies. Pecans helped to fatten hogs, wild turkey and deer for the pioneer's table, while the hard resilient wood made excellent furniture and flooring. In tribute to its many values, Texas adopted the pecan as its State tree. 

Chickens at the Sauer-Beckman Farm showing rural life, 1900 - 1918.  Johann and Christine Sauer, along with their four children, settled this land in 1869. Their family prospered and grew and, by 1885, several stone buildings were built near the original rock and log cabins. 

Eventually, the Sauers had 10 children. One of those, Augusta Sauer Lindig, served as midwife at the birth of President Johnson. The Beckman family acquired the property in 1900. A good cotton crop in 1915 allowed Emil and Emma Beckmann to build a new barn, to add a frame room onto the old rock structure and to construct porches connecting to a lovely Victorian house covered with fashionable pressed tin.

Sheep enjoying life on the Sauer-Beckmann Farm.

Lovely garden - cabbages, broccoli, spinach, beets and you can just see onions in the foreground. That's the Victorian house in the background...

with the porches and pressed tin siding.

Finally, a turkey, at the farm.

The people who lived here never forgot their heritage as they built their life in Texas. Like many German immigrants, they spoke German at home, lived in German communities and used German construction techniques in building their homes. Look closely at the space between the logs of the walls. The rocks and mortar used to fill the wide gaps is a distinct German building method.

On the grounds of the state park is this statue of Lyndon Baines Johnson. President Johnson wanted this statue placed on the State Park, pointing at the Pedernales River.

The Pedernales River. President Johnson once said, "My first memories are of this river." He was born and raised in theTexas Hill Country and always remained close to it by saying, "I feel at home here."