Willkommen

Currently In:  Glen Rose, TX
Next Up: Texarkana, TX on our way to Hot Springs, AR and then Memphis, TN

Last Thursday we spent a day looking at some of the historic parts of Fredericksburg.

We started at the Vereins Kirche Museum located in the Marktplatz (town square).  This structure was built soon after the first German settlers arrived in 1846. It served as town hall, school, fort and church for all denominations.

I loved the library across the street from the Vereins Kirche.  It was made from native limestone, like many structures in Fredericksburg, in 1882 and served as a county courthouse.

Check out these old doorknobs!

There was a gorgeous tapestry created in the late 1960's in honor of this German community.

We then went to the Pioneer Museum that had several houses and such remaining from the beginnings of the town.  The original German immigrants had quite a journey to get  to this place after essentially being abandoned on the beach near Indianola (east coast), TX!
The Fassel house began as a one room butcher shop.  Other rooms were added over time.

We took a look at the 1904 Weber family Sunday House.  Sunday houses were small homes that farmers built for meals and resting when they came into town from their farms on Sundays to socialize and go to church.  I had never heard of them before!

 The schoolhouse was also interesting.  This is where the German children learned English!

Time to visit another brewery!  The Altdorf was a short walk from the museum.   A nice outdoor patio.

I was not leaving the Fredericksburg area without having homemade peach pie since this area is known as Peach Country! Yum!

Although we didn't visit the Pacific War Museum, I did snap this photo of the Nimitz Steamboat Hotel which now houses the museum.  It was built in the late 1800s by Admiral Chester Nimitz's grandfather.  Such unusual architecture!

On another day, Johnny and I continued our tour of the history of Germans settling in Fredericksburg with a tour of St. Mary's Church after Mass on Sunday.
The first log church was built in 1846 when Germans first came to this area.  It was dismantled in 1864 but a cement stone commemorates this first building.

The next church building was built by hand by parishioners with local stone.  It was completed in 1864 and still stands today.  Today it is used for 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration.

Right next to the "old Church" is the "new Church" completed in 1906.

Molly, our tour guide, gave us a lot of information about the inside of the church.  It is one of 20 "Painted Churches" in Central Texas.  The sanctuary is beautiful; the ceiling is painted to represent heaven.  The stained glass windows were shipped from Germany.

The confessionals are original to the early 1900's and area still used today!  There is a lot of symbolism in their design.

The pulpit is also original but is very fragile, so is not used.  The carvings are quite detailed.  It was stored in someone's barn for years until the church went through a restoration.

The organ is from St. Louis and was purchased in 1906.  It is one of two such organs in Texas the are still used.

One thing we learned through the historic tours of Fredericksburg - the Germans were not wasteful; they saved and reused everything.  And they were meticulous about preserving their proud history.  It was easy to imagine what life was like as the city was being settled.