The 17-acre grove dedicated to the 36th president of the United States is one of two commemorative memorials in Lady Bird Johnson Park on the Potomac River along the George Washington Memorial Parkway.  Following Johnson’s death in 1973, friends and colleagues wanted a tribute recalling his love of the land. This spot, a favorite of both President and Lady Bird Johnson because of its panoramic view of the Washington skyline, was chosen by them and M. Meade Palmer, a Virginia landscape architect who specialized in practical and harmonious reading of the landscape, designed the memorial, dedicated on April 6, 1976.

True to Palmer’s philosophy, he designed the memorial to be a living place to enjoy nature—a non-architectural celebration. The design is a spiraling pattern of walks and trails leading to a flagstone terrace with a rugged granite monolith at its center.  The trails feature hundreds of white pines and dogwood trees under-planted with azaleas, rhododendrons and, during spring, thousands of yellow daffodils, incorporating rustic picnic tables and benches throughout.

The sunset-red, granite monolith, quarried near the LBJ Ranch, is 19 feet high, weighs 43 tons, and symbolizes the dynamism of the man it commemorates. Four granite markers surrounding the monolith bear quotations expressing Johnson’s philosophy on the environment, education, civil rights, and the Presidency.  From the terrace, a panoramic view opens across the Potomac River to the city of Washington.