Skip to content

Stonewall, Texas

Everything Stonewall is known for

3 songs mention this city

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Stonewall. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Sign up for the free newsletter Get the iPhone app

Music in Stonewall

Songs About Stonewall

Moving to Florida
Butthole Surfers
6%
"And they say that LBJ was a Soviet Jew"
Ohio (Reprise)
Bowling for Soup
6%
"Lyndon Johnson wants you back"
Stop Moving to Florida
Melvins
2%
"And they say that LBJ was a Soviet Jew"

Artists From Stonewall

No artists from Stonewall in the database yet.

Know one? Add it →

Rivers & Roads in Song near Stonewall

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Stonewall.

Pedernales River 6 songs Blanco River 4 songs Guadalupe River 18 songs Texas State Highway 71 2 songs Interstate 10 36 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs

Musical Heritage

Luckenbach RoadyGoat

Luckenbach's been in operation since 1887, and for a good long while it was a ghost town near Fredericksburg — barely a dot on the map. Then its name got tied to Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Willie ran his Fourth of July Picnics through the 1990s, and the crowds found the place. These days a house band works familiar country hits for the daytime folks. There's a retail store now, climate-controlled bathrooms, White Claws in the cooler. That secondhand shop where a writer bought cowboy boots back in 2005? Sells nothing but hats anymore. The town's changed around the edges. But the name Waylon and Willie hung on it still pulls people down that road, chasing something older than the gift shop.

RoadyGoat → · 7.7 mi away

Luckenbach Dance Hall RoadyGoat

Everybody knows Luckenbach from the Waylon Jennings song — "back to the basics of love," 1977 — but the dance hall was already old by then. It went up in the late 1880s, on a spot that had been a trading post between German settlers and the Comanches. What changed everything was 1970, when a rancher named Hondo Crouch bought the whole town for thirty thousand dollars and turned it into Texas' favorite excuse to do nothing at all. Three years later, Jerry Jeff Walker hauled a mobile studio out here and cut "¡Viva Terlingua!" live on the dance floor over a week in August — a dollar a ticket, about three hundred people in folding chairs. There's a bumper sticker around town that sums the place up: "where everybody is somebody." Ten miles from Fredericksburg, and a hundred miles from your worries.

RoadyGoat → · 7.7 mi away

Luckenbach revival of Willie Nelson's Picnic RoadyGoat

By the mid-nineties, Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic had gone quiet — four years dark. Then it came roaring back to Luckenbach in 1995, and it ran there through the end of the decade. Here's the part nobody planned: a twenty-three-year-old copy editor from the San Angelo Standard-Times named Dave Dalton Thomas was out at the dance hall on his day off when the promoters told him the Picnic was returning. He filed the story, and the wire services carried it clear around the world. Thomas kept pulling that thread until he'd written the whole book — PICNIC, the history of the tradition, out from Texas A and M University Press. Luckenbach was already immortal — Waylon and Willie saw to that back in seventy-seven. But once in a while, the town writes the reporter, and not the other way around.

RoadyGoat → · 7.7 mi away

¡Viva Terlingua!' recording sessions RoadyGoat

Summer of nineteen seventy-three, Jerry Jeff Walker hauled a New Jersey recording truck out to Luckenbach, a wide spot near Fredericksburg, and cut a whole album live in a dance hall. Five days, no audience — just the band running takes with nobody watching. Only two songs got a crowd, at an event that August: "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother" and "London Homesick Blues." That second one they played live for the very first time that night, and when the tape ran out mid-song, they had to do the whole thing over. The record came out that November and stalled at number one hundred sixty on the charts. Didn't matter. "London Homesick Blues" — "I wanna go home with the armadillo" — became the Austin City Limits theme for twenty-eight straight years. Some records outlive their chart position.

RoadyGoat → · 7.7 mi away

Luckenbach dance hall and townsite RoadyGoat

Luckenbach isn't really a town — it's a wide spot outside Fredericksburg, a dance hall and a couple of buildings under the oaks. German farmers settled it back in the 1840s; the Luckenbach family gave it the name, and there's been a dance hall here since the late 1800s. Then in 1970, a rancher and self-appointed clown prince named Hondo Crouch bought the near-dead little place outright and turned it into outlaw-country holy ground. In 1973, Jerry Jeff Walker hauled a mobile studio out to the open-air stage and cut "Viva Terlingua!" live. Willie Nelson brought his Fourth of July Picnic here in the late 1990s. Hondo's daughter, Cris Crouch Graham, still tells the stories. Everybody's somebody in Luckenbach — that was always the joke, and the point.

RoadyGoat → · 12.7 mi away

History of Stonewall

Stonewall, TX RoadyGoat

Stonewall. The name itself conjures images of strength, permanence, something enduring. It’s a fitting name for this little corner of the Texas Hill Country, a place that’s seen its share of challenges and come out stronger. The story goes that the town was named for Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general. While it's hard to find absolute certainty in these things, the name likely reflects the sympathies of the early settlers, who, like many in the South, admired Jackson's tenacity. That sense of resilience is woven into the very fabric of Stonewall. The devastating flood of 1952 nearly washed the town away, but the community rebuilt, brick by brick. Today, driving down Highway 290, through fields bursting with bluebonnets in the spring, you can feel that history. The gentle rolling hills, the quiet tranquility - it's a place where time seems to slow down, where the past feels present. Even the nearby presence of Enchanted Rock, that ancient pink granite dome, reinforces the feeling of standing on something solid, something that has stood the test of time. It's a place where the spirit of those early settlers, their grit and determination, still echoes in the wind.

Stonewall, TX RoadyGoat

Stonewall has always been a place where the past feels present, where the rumble of Highway 290 can't quite drown out the echoes of simpler times. But even here, change finds a way. In recent years, the increasing popularity of the Texas wine industry, centered right here in the Hill Country, has brought a different kind of attention to our little town. More traffic, new businesses, a subtle shift in the community's rhythm – it's a mixed bag. Folks are still talking about the influx of visitors, especially during the spring when the bluebonnets are out and the wineries are hosting events. Some appreciate the economic boost, the new restaurants and shops that cater to tourists. Others worry about losing the quiet charm that made Stonewall so special in the first place. There's a real tension between preserving our heritage and embracing the opportunities that come with being part of a growing wine region. It's a conversation happening around kitchen tables and at the post office, a debate about what Stonewall will look like for the next generation.

Stonewall, TX RoadyGoat

U.S. Route 290 passes through Stonewall, leading west 14 miles to Fredericksburg, the Gillespie County seat, and east 15 miles to Johnson City. This highway serves as a key transportation route for the community, connecting it to nearby cities and facilitating travel within the region.

RoadyGoat →

Johnson, Lyndon Baines

1908

Lyndon Baines Johnson, president of the United States, the eldest of five children of Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. , and Rebekah Baines Johnson , was born on August 27, 1908, on a farm in the Hill Country near Stonewall, Texas. His father had served in the Texas legislature, and young Lyndon grew up in an atmosphere that emphasized politics and public affairs. Lyndon's mother encouraged her son's ambition and sense of striving. In 1913 the Johnsons moved to nearby Johnson City. Lyndon was educated in local schools in the area and graduated from high school in Johnson City in 1924. During the next several years he tried various jobs in California and Texas without success. In 1927 he entered Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University), where he was a history and social science major active in campus politics. He earned his elementary teacher's certificate in 1928 and for one year was a principal and teacher at Cotulla. His work with the destitute Hispanic students there had an important effect on his attitude toward poverty and the role of government. Johnson received his B.A. degree in 1930. He had already taken part in several political campaigns. Late in 1931 he became the secretary to Congressman Richard M. Kleberg of Texas. During the four years he held the position he gained valuable contacts in Washington. On November 17, 1934, he met and married Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor , daughter of Thomas Jefferson Taylor II , a prosperous planter and store owner in Marshall. Two daughters were born to the Johnsons, during the 1940s. Mrs. Johnson proved to be an effective political partner. Her business acumen was an important element in the success of the radio station that they acquired in Austin in 1943. Johnson's first important political position was as director of the National Youth Administration in Texas from 1935 to 1937. Construction of his system of roadside parks put young Texans to work and quietly introduced the participation of African Americans in some NYA programs. When the incumbent congressman of the Tenth Congressional District died in 1937, Johnson entered the race as a devoted supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. He spent eleven years in the House and became intimately familiar with the legislative process. He was a supporter of Roosevelt's programs and policies and a close ally of majority leader (later speaker of the House) Sam Rayburn . He was the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1940 and helped the Democrats retain control of the House. In 1941 he ran for the Senate from Texas but was narrowly defeated in a special election. When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Johnson joined the navy as a lieutenant commander. He saw combat during an inspection tour of the South Pacific in 1942. He left the navy in response to President Roosevelt's directive that congressmen should remain in Washington. Johnson made another race for the Senate in 1948 against popular former governor Coke Stevenson . Texas had lost its earlier affection for the New Deal, and Johnson stressed his own conservatism in the election. The runoff primary in August 1948 was very close. Amid charges of ballot-box stuffing and other fraudulent practices, Johnson was declared the Democratic nominee only after extended legal battles. He easily defeated his Republican opponent in the general election. He was an effective senator who mastered the organization and rules of the upper house. His Democratic colleagues elected him majority whip in 1951, and in 1953 he was chosen to be minority leader—the youngest such leader in the history of the Senate. Johnson won a second term in 1954. The Democrats regained control of Congress that same year, and in January 1955 he became the majority leader. In his rush to power, however, Johnson had neglected his health. During the early summer of 1955, he had a severe heart attack. He returned to his duties in the Senate lat

Tsha Handbook →

Lyndon Baines Johnson

1908

The 36th President of the United States was born here on August 27, 1908; son of a state legislator (1905-1917), Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Baines Johnson, a teacher. 
 The house was built in 1906 with the help of neighbors. 
 The Johnsons and Bainesses - early settlers - were ministers, Indian fighters, newspapermen, college professors, ranchers. Original house burned, and was rebuilt by the President. 
 Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967

Historical Marker → · 3.2 mi away

Lyndon Baines Johnson Birthplace, Boyhood Home, and Ranch

1908

The birthplace home of Lyndon Baines Johnson is adjacent to the LBJ Ranch near Ranch Road 1 and Stonewall, Texas. The home was constructed in the 1880s by Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. , the president's grandfather, and it was there that the president's father, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. , brought his bride, Rebekah Baines Johnson , in 1907. Lyndon was born in the home on August 27, 1908; the Johnsons lived there until 1913, when they moved to Johnson City. The family sold the house in 1923, and though it was demolished after much deterioration, some of the original materials were used in the construction of a smaller house on the same site in 1935. The Johnson City Foundation acquired the building in 1964 and reconstructed it to its 1907 size and appearance. The home is now open to the public, having been refurnished with authentic pieces and family mementos. Johnson's boyhood home in Johnson City was built in 1886 and, though modest, reflects the Victorian style of the period. After the family moved there in 1913, the house remained the official residence of Lyndon Johnson until he married Claudia Alta Taylor in 1934; his first political speech in his race for Congress in 1937 was made on the east porch of the house. The home was dedicated as a museum by Judge Homer Thornberry on May 13, 1965, and like the birthplace contains authentic period items and family furnishings. It is also open to the public. The LBJ Ranch is in the heart of the Hill Country on the banks of the Pedernales River, and in the early 1990s was still the home of Lady Bird Johnson. The history of the ranch goes back to the time of the Republic of Texas , when a young widow from Georgia, Rachael Means, was granted a tract that included the present property. In 1872 the land was sold by the Means family, and the property changed hands several times until about 1894, when a one-room stone house was constructed by a German family named Meyer; the small house became the nucleus of the present home. In 1909 the property was purchased by Clarence White Martin , a relative of the Johnsons, and in 1951 Senator and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson acquired the property, which then consisted of 438 acres. See also LYNDON B. JOHNSON STATE HISTORICAL PARK , and LYNDON B. JOHNSON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK .

Tsha Handbook →

LBJ Ranch - Texas White House

1908

The LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Texas, where Lyndon Johnson was born, lived, governed during his presidency, and is buried along the Pedernales River.

Historical Marker →

Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park

1967

Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park is a strip of land bounded on the north by the Pedernales River and on the south by U.S. Highway 290, 1½ miles east of Stonewall in eastern Gillespie County. The park, which is two miles long and a half mile wide, comprises 718 acres. It commemorates the life and career of Gillespie County's most famous citizen, Lyndon B. Johnson , whose birthplace and ranch just across the river are part of Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park . The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department accepted 269 acres along the Pedernales from various friends of President Johnson in 1967 and, after various improvements funded in part by a federal land and water conservation grant, opened it to the public on June 1, 1969. The park was officially dedicated on August 29, 1970, in a ceremony attended by Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird . By 1975 the state had expanded the park to its current size at a cost of more than $1 million. The area was the home of as many as ten different groups of primitive peoples between 5000 B.C. and A.D. 1500, and the 25,000 artifacts found at the park indicate that it was once the site of a stone quarry and midden. Besides the visitors' center, which houses a display of Johnson memorabilia and a 250-seat auditorium, the park includes the Behrens Cabin, built in the 1870s by German immigrant Johannes Behrens and furnished with typical nineteenth-century furnishings; the Sauer-Beckmann Farmstead, a historical farm operated as it was in 1918; and a nature trail through wildlife enclosures with buffalo , white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, longhorn cattle , and other native fauna. Other facilities at the park are an outdoor amphitheater, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a baseball diamond, and a number of picnic areas. In its first five years of operation the park attracted over 3½ million visitors.

Tsha Handbook →

LBJ Ranch (Texas White House)

1951

LBJ governed the country from this Hill Country ranch, installing a full communications center. He was born, lived, governed, and is buried on this land.

Historical Marker →

Things to Do in Stonewall

historical 16.4 mi away
Luckenbach Texas

Luckenbach was a failing ghost town of three residents when Hondo Crouch bought it in 1970 for thirty thousand dollars and declared himself mayor of an…
historical 1.2 mi away
Birthplace and Burial of a President

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in Stonewall on August 27 1908 in a small farmhouse on the Pedernales River. He served as the 36th President and spent about 20…
historical 2.4 mi away
LBJ Ranch

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in this stretch of the Hill Country in 1908 and came home to it every chance he got even as president. The ranch on the…
quirky 6.5 mi away
Luckenbach Texas

The entire 'town' is a dance hall and post office. Waylon sang about it.
quirky 7.5 mi away
The Song Nobody Had Seen

When Waylon Jennings recorded Luckenbach Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) in 1977 it shot to number one on the country charts and number 25 on the pop…
quirky 7.7 mi away
The Town That Sold for Thirty Grand

In 1970 old Benno Engel retired as postmaster of Luckenbach Texas and placed an ad in the local paper that read TOWN FOR SALE -- lock stock and dancehall. The…
quirky 12.7 mi away
ALL WELCOME / COME BACK Street Names

Stand at the Gillespie County Courthouse and look at the cross streets running off Main. Heading east the first letters spell ALL WELCOME — Adams Llano Lincoln…
quirky 19.8 mi away
Enchanted Rock

A massive pink granite dome rises four hundred feet out of the Hill Country north of Fredericksburg. Tonkawa and Comanche peoples believed the rock was haunted…

Everything Near Stonewall

334 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Johnson, Lyndon Baines · Tsha Handbook

    Lyndon Baines Johnson, president of the United States, the eldest of five children of Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. , and Rebekah Baines Johnson , was born on August 27, 1908, on a farm in the Hill Country near Stonewall,…

  • Lyndon Baines Johnson Birthplace, Boyhood Home, and Ranch · Tsha Handbook

    The birthplace home of Lyndon Baines Johnson is adjacent to the LBJ Ranch near Ranch Road 1 and Stonewall, Texas. The home was constructed in the 1880s by Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. , the president's grandfather, and it…

  • Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park · Tsha Handbook

    Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park is a strip of land bounded on the north by the Pedernales River and on the south by U.S. Highway 290, 1½ miles east of Stonewall in eastern Gillespie County. The park,…

  • Stonewall, TX · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Stonewall, a community with roots stretching back to the 1870s. It all started when Israel P. Nuñez established a stage station here on the Pedernales River in 1870. He later opened a post office…

  • Sauer, Emil · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, not far from where Emil Sauer was born near Stonewall in 1881. He started his education right here, but his life's journey took him far beyond these rolling hills. Sauer…

  • Johnson, Lyndon Baines · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Stonewall, Texas, and right here is where a future President of the United States walked these halls. As a 12-year-old boy, Lyndon Baines Johnson attended the 8th grade right here, from October of…

  • Nunez, Israel M. · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stonewall, a town with roots in the Civil War. Look around, because you're in the place founded in 1870 by Israel M. Nunez. He was a Civil War veteran who named this town after Confederate General…

  • Birthplace and Burial of a President · 1.2 mi · Things to Do

    Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in Stonewall on August 27 1908 in a small farmhouse on the Pedernales River. He served as the 36th President and spent about 20…

  • The Only President Born and Buried in Texas · 1.2 mi · Things to Do

    Texas has produced or claimed several presidents but LBJ is the only one both born and buried in the state. His birthplace his ranch his Texas White House and…

  • Peach Capital of Texas · 1.2 mi · Things to Do

    German settlers in Stonewall experimented with fruit trees in the Hill Country soil and struck gold with peaches. The area now produces about 40 percent of the…

  • The First Limekiln in Gillespie County · 1.2 mi · Things to Do

    German settler Andreas Lindig built the first limekiln in Gillespie County right at Stonewall. From his kiln the other settlers learned to manufacture lime…

  • The German Pioneers of Stonewall · 1.2 mi · Things to Do

    In the 1860s German settlers arrived at the Pedernales River crossing and began farming land that had belonged to a grant holder named Justa Flores. They…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • Life on the Pedernales · 1.2 mi · Things to Do

    The Pedernales River defines Stonewall. LBJ swam in it as a boy conducted diplomacy beside it as president and is buried within earshot of its waters. German…

  • Named for Stonewall Jackson · 1.3 mi · Things to Do

    Stonewall Texas was named for Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson by Israel P. Nunez who established a stage station near the site in 1870. Nunez…

  • The Underground Wine Cellar · 1.3 mi · Things to Do

    Pedernales Cellars in Stonewall boasts the largest underground barrel cellar in Texas. The family dug directly into a Hill Country hillside to create a…

  • Stonewall Community Cemetery · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stonewall, and you're passing the Stonewall Community Cemetery. This historic graveyard originally served the settlement of Millville, laid out by Israel Nuñez, who ran a stage stop nearby after…

  • Stonewall, TX · 2.0 mi

    Stonewall. The name itself conjures images of strength, permanence, something enduring. It’s a fitting name for this little corner of the Texas Hill Country, a place that’s seen its share of challenges and come out…

  • LBJ Ranch (Texas White House) · 2.3 mi · Historical Marker

    LBJ governed the country from this Hill Country ranch, installing a full communications center. He was born, lived, governed, and is buried on this land.

  • Lady Birds Wildflower Revolution · 2.3 mi · Things to Do

    Lady Bird Johnson championed the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 from the Texas White House in Stonewall. She pushed to plant native wildflower seeds along…

  • LBJ Ranch - Texas White House · 2.4 mi · Historical Marker

    The LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Texas, where Lyndon Johnson was born, lived, governed during his presidency, and is buried along the Pedernales River.

  • LBJ Ranch · 2.4 mi · Things to Do

    Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in this stretch of the Hill Country in 1908 and came home to it every chance he got even as president. The ranch on the…

  • Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park · 2.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Get ready to walk where a President walked – and shaped a nation. Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, called this land home. Johnson was born near here in 1908. He grew up in the area, and later,…

  • Albert Nebgen House · 2.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Albert Nebgen House in Stonewall. Albert Nebgen, son of German immigrants, built this farmhouse for his family around 1918. It's a classic example of the farmsteads established by early German…

  • Lyndon Baines Johnson · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker

    The 36th President of the United States was born here on August 27, 1908; son of a state legislator (1905-1917), Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Baines Johnson, a teacher. 
 The house was built in 1906 with…

  • Trinity Lutheran Church · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stonewall, where this historic Trinity Lutheran Church began in 1902. The congregation first met in the Albert Schoolhouse. Worship services here were held in German until 1950, and the church…

  • Site of the Andreas Lindig Lime Kiln · 3.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stonewall, and just ahead is the site of the Andreas Lindig Lime Kiln. Built in 1874, this was the first lime kiln in eastern Gillespie County. Andreas Lindig, trained in Germany, used rock hauled…

  • Andreas and Frederike Lindig Farmstead · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Andreas and Frederike Lindig Farmstead, a testament to German immigrant grit in the Texas Hill Country. Arriving in Texas in 1869, the Lindigs established this farmstead in 1874. They…

  • Smith, E. Kirby Smith · 4.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Fredericksburg area, home to Confederate General E. Kirby Smith. Born in Florida and a West Point grad, Smith fought in the Mexican War before heading to the Texas frontier in the 1850s. He…

  • Lower South Grape Creek School · 4.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Lower South Grape Creek School. Area settlers built a log schoolhouse 1.5 miles south of here in 1871 along South Grape Creek. It was part of Luckenbach School Precinct No. 3 until 1889, when it was…

  • Hye Post Office · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hye Post Office, a place that served as a tiny but significant stop on the road to the presidency. It all started back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1880</say-as>, named for founder…

  • Williams Creek School · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Williams Creek School. Established to serve the rural Albert community, the Williams Creek School, also known as the Albert School, began in 1890-91 near the creek. In 1897, trustees approved…

  • Duecker Family Homestead · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Willow City, and just ahead is the Duecker Family Homestead. August Duecker, Sr. arrived from Germany in 1852, and by 1878, he and his wife Louise bought this land. Their son, August Jr., and his…

  • St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery · 6.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery near Fredericksburg. German Lutheran residents formed their congregation here in 1883, naming it St. Paulus Evangelische Gemeinde an Nord Grape Creek. The first burial…

  • Wilke Cemetery at Albert, Texas · 6.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Wilke Cemetery at Albert, Texas. This burial ground was established in 1907 when blacksmith Friedrich August Wilke, Sr. conveyed this property for cemetery use. The first burial was Constantine…

  • St. Paul Lutheran Church · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of St. Paul Lutheran Church, the oldest rural Lutheran church in Gillespie County. Its first pastor was the Rev. M. Haag, and it began with 17 charter members. The original frame building,…

  • Luckenbach, Texas · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker

    Luckenbach, Texas consists of a general store, a dance hall, a post office, and not much else. Its permanent population has never exceeded a few dozen. In 1970, humorist Hondo Crouch bought the entire town for $30,000…

  • Luckenbach Texas · 6.5 mi · Things to Do

    The entire 'town' is a dance hall and post office. Waylon sang about it.

  • Luckenbach School · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the historic Luckenbach School. Back in 1855, Peter Pehl donated land for the very first schoolhouse here. It started as a simple log building, with Herman Toepperwein as its first…

  • Hye, TX · 7.5 mi

    In 1965, a significant event took place in Hye when President Lyndon B. Johnson swore in Lawrence F. O'Brien as United States Postmaster General on the porch of the Hye post office. Johnson's boyhood home is located…

  • The Song Nobody Had Seen · 7.5 mi · Things to Do

    When Waylon Jennings recorded Luckenbach Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) in 1977 it shot to number one on the country charts and number 25 on the pop…

  • The Imagineer of Luckenbach · 7.5 mi · Things to Do

    Hondo Crouch was a white-haired rancher who wore a battered cowboy hat faded jeans and a red bandana. After buying the town in 1971 he turned it into a living…

  • The Non-Buy Centennial · 7.6 mi · Things to Do

    On July 4th 1976 while the rest of America celebrated the Bicentennial with fireworks and flag-waving Luckenbach went the other direction. Hondo Crouch…

  • Viva Terlingua Recorded in Luckenbach · 7.6 mi · Things to Do

    In 1973 Jerry Jeff Walker walked into the old Luckenbach dance hall with a band and a recording crew and cut what became his best-selling album Viva Terlingua.…

  • Engel Family · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Luckenbach, Texas, a community with a story tied to the Engel family, who arrived here from Germany in 1846. Reverend August Engel, a traveling preacher and teacher, settled here and eventually…

  • Luckenbach · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Luckenbach, Texas, a town that started as a small settlement for German immigrants in the 1850s. They first set up shop along Grape Creek, even getting a post office briefly after 1858 with…

  • The Chickens That Own the Place · 7.6 mi · Things to Do

    In Luckenbach the chickens dont just live there -- they run the show. Free-range hens strut around the general store roost in the oak trees and occasionally…

  • Population Three and Fifty Thousand Visitors · 7.6 mi · Things to Do

    A hand-painted sign on one of Luckenbachs buildings proudly declares Population 3. Nobody actually lives there anymore but that hasnt stopped over fifty…

  • Eighty-Five Years of Mail · 7.6 mi · Things to Do

    The Luckenbach post office opened in 1886 with August Engel as its first postmaster and operated continuously for eighty-five years until 1971. For nearly a…

  • Luckenbach, TX · 7.7 mi

    On August 23, 2009, Luckenbach hosted 'Pickin' for the Record,' a fundraiser for the organization Voices of a Grateful Nation. The event broke the Guinness world record for the most guitar players gathered at one time…

  • The Town That Sold for Thirty Grand · 7.7 mi · Things to Do

    In 1970 old Benno Engel retired as postmaster of Luckenbach Texas and placed an ad in the local paper that read TOWN FOR SALE -- lock stock and dancehall. The…

  • Luckenbach · 7.7 mi

    Luckenbach's been in operation since 1887, and for a good long while it was a ghost town near Fredericksburg — barely a dot on the map. Then its name got tied to Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Willie ran his Fourth…

  • Luckenbach Dance Hall · 7.7 mi

    Everybody knows Luckenbach from the Waylon Jennings song — "back to the basics of love," 1977 — but the dance hall was already old by then. It went up in the late 1880s, on a spot that had been a trading post between…

  • Luckenbach revival of Willie Nelson's Picnic · 7.7 mi

    By the mid-nineties, Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic had gone quiet — four years dark. Then it came roaring back to Luckenbach in 1995, and it ran there through the end of the decade. Here's the part nobody…

  • ¡Viva Terlingua!' recording sessions · 7.7 mi

    Summer of nineteen seventy-three, Jerry Jeff Walker hauled a New Jersey recording truck out to Luckenbach, a wide spot near Fredericksburg, and cut a whole album live in a dance hall. Five days, no audience — just the…

  • The World Record Guitar Jam · 7.7 mi · Things to Do

    In 2009 Luckenbach hosted Pickin for the Record and shattered a Guinness World Record. A total of 1868 guitar players gathered in the tiny Hill Country hamlet…

  • When the President Snuck Out for a Beer · 7.7 mi · Things to Do

    According to local legend when Lyndon Baines Johnson was at the nearby Texas White House in Johnson City he would occasionally sneak away from the Secret…

  • Site of Zodiac · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Site of Zodiac. A Mormon settlement. Established in 1847 by 150 Mormons under the leadership of Lyman Wight (1796-1858). Abandoned in 1851 after floods destroyed their mill. Erected by the State of…

  • Jakob (Jacob) Brodbeck · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the heart of the Texas Hill Country, near Luckenbach, where a remarkable teacher and inventor named Jakob Brodbeck once lived. Back in 1846, while sailing to America, Brodbeck dreamed up the idea…

  • Hugo and Anna Gold Crenwelge House · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hugo and Anna Crenwelge House in Willow City. This home, built in 1905, is a beautiful example of a rural German-Texan farmstead. Notice the hand-cut limestone, quarried right here near the site,…

  • Pinta Trail · 9.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the historic Pinta Trail, a route with a story stretching back centuries. Originally used by nomadic Plains Indians, it was later followed by Spanish and Mexican explorers on their way to the San…

  • The Easter Fires · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Fredericksburg, and if it's Easter Eve, you might see them: the Easter Fires blazing on the hills! This tradition started way back in March of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1847</say-as>.…

  • Fort Martin Scott · 11.1 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Imagine a lonely outpost on the edge of civilization, that's Fort Martin Scott. It played a crucial role in keeping the peace on the Texas frontier.Established in 1848, Fort Martin Scott was one of the first in a line…

  • Site of Fort Martin Scott · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Martin Scott, established by the U.S. Army in December of 1848. It was built to protect travelers and settlers from Indian attacks, and named for Major Martin Scott, who died in the…

  • The Burrer Home · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Burrer Home in Fredericksburg, a testament to German immigrant life in the Texas Hill Country. Gottlieb Burrer arrived from Germany in 1854, and by the 1860s, he and his wife Katharina, whose…

  • Grapetown School · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Grapetown School. Frederick Baag donated the land in 1882, and the community built this schoolhouse, completed in 1884, teaching all seven grades with just one teacher. It served as…

  • Eckert, TX · 11.9 mi

    The town of Eckert, Texas, was originally named Nebo, after the nearby Nebo Mountain. However, in 1903, when Wilhelm Rudolph Eckert opened a store in the location and became the first postmaster, he requested that the…

  • Grapetown, TX · 11.9 mi

    Grapetown, nestled in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, has always been a place where the past feels close. You can almost hear the echoes of those early German settlers as you drive along the old Fredericksburg-San…

  • Ressmann-Boos House · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Ressmann-Boos House, a living timeline of pioneer building. The original section, built around 1845, showcases fachwerk construction, a classic German building style. Over time, additions were…

  • Christian Methodist Episcopal Church · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg. By the 1870s, several Black families called Gillespie County home. They likely worshipped in a schoolhouse built nearby in…

  • Wahrmund Millinery, Moellendorf-Dietz Bakery · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a building that's been serving Fredericksburg for nearly a century! Erected around 1876, it started as a home and business for George Wahrmund. His wife, Elise, ran a millinery and…

  • Kiehne-Hermann Home · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Kiehne-Hermann Home in Fredericksburg, built in 1850 by Frederick Kiehne, a German-born blacksmith and county commissioner. This wasn't just any house; it was the very first two-story home in…

  • Ebers, August, House · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the August Ebers House near Fredericksburg. Built starting in 1860 by a German immigrant, this stone home began with just a kitchen, a main room, and a loft bedroom. By 1880, Ebers added a whole west…

  • Maier-Alberthal Building · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Fredericksburg, and right here is the Maier-Alberthal Building, built around 1860. German immigrant Anton Maier bought it in 1866 and ran it as a general store. His son-in-law, August Alberthal,…

  • Dambach-Besier Home · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Dambach-Besier Home, a rock house likely built around 1867 by F. Dambach. It was a full-time residence, not a weekend getaway. Later, in 1881, Anna Besier acquired the property. She moved her…

  • Walch Home · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, passing the site of the Walch Home. In 1847, stonemason Johan Walch settled here, building this two-room limestone house before he even married. His family grew to eleven children,…

  • The Admiral Who Won an Ocean War Was Born on Main Street · 12.4 mi

    Of all the things this landlocked German town has produced, the most unlikely is the man who commanded the Pacific Ocean. Chester William Nimitz was born on February 24, 1885, in a house on East Main Street in…

  • From Small-Town Hotel to World-Class War Museum · 12.4 mi · Museum Website

    The National Museum of the Pacific War sits on the same block where Chester Nimitz's grandfather ran the Nimitz Hotel starting in 1855. Charles H. Nimitz — a retired German sea captain — built the place with a…

  • Japanese submarine HA. 19 · 12.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Believe it or not, you're about to see a piece of the Pearl Harbor attack right here in Texas. This is the Japanese midget submarine HA. 19. On 1941, this submarine was launched as part of the surprise attack on Pearl…

  • Nimitz Hotel · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Nimitz Hotel in Fredericksburg. Charles Nimitz, Sr. bought this property in 1855, and by 1860, the hotel was established, serving travelers and the large Nimitz family. Expanded in…

  • J. W. and Ruth Baines House · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the J.W. and Ruth Baines House in Fredericksburg. Built in 1904, this was the home of Joseph W. Baines and his wife, Ruth. Joseph was a Civil War veteran, a journalist, a Texas Secretary of State, a…

  • The Bavarian Holdout on East Main · 12.4 mi

    If you want to eat the way old German Fredericksburg ate, The Auslander at 323 East Main Street has been doing it longer than almost anyone, dating back to 1960. The name means the outsider or foreigner, which is a sly…

  • Kloth-Ludwig Home · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Fredericksburg, and right here is the Kloth-Ludwig Home, built around 1870. This place wasn't just a house; it was designed with a shop right in the front and living quarters in the back. Imagine…

  • Schandua Building · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Schandua Building, erected in 1897 with hand-hewn limestone. This was the home and hardware store of John and Bertha Schandua. After John's death, his brother Henry took over the business,…

  • Adolph Gold House · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Adolph Gold House, built in 1901 for a local banker and developer. Gold was one of the minds behind Fredericksburg's first subdivision. This limestone home, with its distinctive five-bay front…

  • Gold-Grobe House · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Gold-Grobe House, built in 1902 by Peter Gold, Sr. It started as a one-story limestone home. In 1914, Friedrich Grobe bought it and added a second story and rear wing in 1916, using local…

  • Mueller-Petmecky House · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Mueller-Petmecky House in Fredericksburg, a home that tells a story of German immigration and growth. The first part, likely built between 1848 and 1850 by Willis Wallace, was a simple two-room…

  • National Museum of the Pacific War · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    The man who commanded the largest naval force in human history grew up in a landlocked German farming town in the Texas Hill Country. Chester William Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg in 1885 and raised by his…

  • The Big Oak Tree and a Running Gun Battle on Main Street · 12.5 mi · Oral History

    Near the service entrance to the Nimitz on Washington Street stands one of the oldest live oak trees in Fredericksburg's historic district — a massive specimen that has watched over this block since before the hotel…

  • Cross Mountain · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cross Mountain, a landmark with a story stretching back centuries. This marl and limestone hill, over 1,900 feet high, was once an Indian signal point, warning of approaching settlers. German…

  • The Carl Henke Home · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Carl Henke Home, a house with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Fredericksburg's German settlers. Carl Henke, believed to be the first boy born to these immigrants, was a master…

  • Arhelger, Frederrick William · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and right here is a building that tells a story of early Texas industry. This limestone structure was built in 1898 by Frederick William Arhelger, a cabinetmaker and wheelwright by…

  • Stein, Edward and Minnie · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Fredericksburg, and right here is a beautiful example of 1920s bungalow architecture. This house, built in 1923, was designed and constructed by Edward Stein, a master craftsman and a prominent…

  • Van Der Stucken, Felix · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the home of Felix Van Der Stucken, a Belgian immigrant who made his mark on Fredericksburg. He built the original part of this limestone house soon after buying the land in 1864. Van Der Stucken was…

  • Old Central Drugstore · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Old Central Drugstore, built in 1905 by Alphons Walter, a Swiss jeweler. It quickly became Robert Striegler's Central Drugstore, which operated here for over 70 years. The building also housed a…

  • Bethany Lutheran Church · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bethany Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg. Organized by about 80 families in 1887, the congregation initially worshiped in other community buildings before constructing their own…

  • Nimitz, Chester W. · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and right here, you're passing the birthplace of one of America's greatest naval heroes. This modest home, built in 1866 by Carl Basse, was where Anna Henke Nimitz gave birth to…

  • The First Boy Born in Fredericksburg · 12.6 mi · Texas Historical Commission

    The limestone house on the corner of Travis and Llano is the Carl Henke Home — and Carl himself was documented as the first boy born in Fredericksburg among the German immigrant settlers. Born April 8, 1848, just two…

  • Vaudeville · 12.6 mi · Things to Do

    French-bistro cafe tucked downstairs at 230 East Main Street in Fredericksburg. Daily lunch specials, fresh pastries, and a French dip sandwich worth the…

  • Schmidt-Gold House · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Schmidt-Gold House, built in the 1860s by Lorenz Schmidt, a German stonemason who helped build many early structures in Fredericksburg, including the Vereins Kirche. This home, originally a…

  • Domino Parlor · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Domino Parlor in Fredericksburg, a building that started life in the early 1850s as a stone structure with a vaulted cellar. It’s seen a lot of changes over the years, serving as a pharmacy, a…

  • Pioneer Schandua House · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Pioneer Schandua House, built before 1880. Local merchant John Schandua bought it in 1883, right after marrying Bertha Klein. The front room, 'die stube,' was their main living space, while the…

  • Rausch, William · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the home of William and Olga Rausch, built in 1906. William, a stonemason and carpenter, likely built much of this German vernacular limestone house himself. The home stayed in the Rausch family for…

  • The Meusebach-Comanche Treaty · 12.7 mi · Research

    In the early spring of eighteen forty-seven, John Meusebach, the leader of the German colony at Fredericksburg, rode out with about forty men to find the Penateka Comanche on their own ground. They carried their rifles…

  • Fredericksburg, TX · 12.7 mi

    Enchanted Rock, located 17 miles north of Fredericksburg, is a significant natural feature of the area. This huge pink granite exfoliation dome rises 425 feet above the surrounding land and covers 640 acres. Enchanted…

  • Fredericksburg German Settlement · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    In 1846, 120 German immigrants walked into the limestone hills of central Texas and built a town where no settler colony was supposed to survive. They were deep inside Comanche territory. Every frontier outpost this far…

  • ALL WELCOME / COME BACK Street Names · 12.7 mi · Things to Do

    Stand at the Gillespie County Courthouse and look at the cross streets running off Main. Heading east the first letters spell ALL WELCOME — Adams Llano Lincoln…

  • The Baron Who Threw Away His Title to Build This Town · 12.7 mi

    You're standing in a town that began as a noble experiment that almost ate itself. In 1846 a German organization grandly called the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas, better known as the…

  • The Coffee Mill in the Middle of Main Street · 12.7 mi

    Right in the green heart of Marktplatz sits a stout eight-sided building locals have always called the Coffee Mill. Its real name is the Vereins Kirche, the Society Church, and it was Fredericksburg's first public…

  • The Bedtime Story That Became a Pageant of Fires · 12.7 mi

    On the night before Easter, fires still flare on the hills ringing Fredericksburg, and the story behind them is one of the great frontier bedtime tales. As the legend goes, in the spring of 1847, while the Germans were…

  • A Gift From Japan, in the Birthplace of the Admiral Who Beat It · 12.7 mi

    Tucked into the Pacific War museum grounds is one of the most surprising peace offerings in Texas: a traditional Japanese garden, given by the people of Japan to the town that produced the admiral who defeated them. The…

  • Luckenbach dance hall and townsite · 12.7 mi

    Luckenbach isn't really a town — it's a wide spot outside Fredericksburg, a dance hall and a couple of buildings under the oaks. German farmers settled it back in the 1840s; the Luckenbach family gave it the name, and…

  • The Tiny Houses Farmers Kept for the Weekend · 12.7 mi

    Scattered through the older blocks of Fredericksburg are little 1.5-story houses that look almost like dollhouses, and there's a clever reason they exist. When the Germans settled here in 1846, each family got a town…

  • Why the Whole Road Is Wineries · 12.7 mi

    Drive Highway 290 east out of Fredericksburg and you'll pass winery after winery—more than fifty of them strung along a few miles of road, making this the busiest wine trail in Texas and, some folks say, the second…

  • Why the Peaches Need a Cold Winter to Taste Like Summer · 12.7 mi

    Those famous Gillespie County peaches are really a quiet lesson in plant physiology, and the secret ingredient is cold. Peach trees track winter the way a clock tracks time, by accumulating chill hours, the total time…

  • Why Half the Old Names in Town Point Back to 1846 · 12.7 mi

    Read the old signs around Fredericksburg long enough and you start meeting the same families who stepped off those first wagons. The creek that runs through town, Barons Creek, was named for the baron himself, John O.…

  • The Hometown Glove That Won an Astros First · 12.7 mi

    Long before Fredericksburg was wineries and weekend getaways, it sent a kid named Roger Metzger to the big leagues on the strength of his hands. Born here on October 10, 1947, Metzger grew into a slick-fielding…

  • Twenty-Eight Inches of Rain in the Middle of a Drought · 12.7 mi

    In September 1952 the Hill Country around Fredericksburg got hit with a flood so violent it's still a benchmark, and the cruel part is that it landed in the middle of a brutal drought. Over September 9 through 11, a…

  • The Store That Stayed in One Family for Over a Century · 12.7 mi

    At 325 West Main Street, the Pioneer Museum tells Fredericksburg's pioneer story inside the very buildings that made it, and the anchor is the Kammlah House. Heinrich Kammlah built a house, smokehouse, and barn here in…

  • County Jail of 1885 · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the old Gillespie County Jail, built back in 1885. This sturdy stone building was the county's fourth jail, and it served prisoners for over fifty years, until 1939. The ground floor had a holding…

  • Homestead of Karl Itz · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Gillespie County, past the homestead of Karl Itz. A German immigrant who arrived in Texas in 1852, Itz joined other German immigrants to support the Union at the start of the Civil War. In August…

  • Fredericksburg College Building · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past what was once Fredericksburg College, a beacon of higher learning for German immigrants and locals alike. Erected by the German Methodist Mission Conference in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • Mosel-Jordan-Duecker Haus · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Mosel-Jordan-Duecker Haus in Fredericksburg, a home with roots stretching back to German immigration in the 1840s. Johann Nicholas Mosel, an immigrant himself, was granted this lot in 1847 and…

  • Patton, Albert Lee · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the home of Albert Lee Patton, a key figure in Fredericksburg's early business scene. He and his wife Emma built the first part of this limestone house right after buying the land in 1876. By the…

  • Rausch Ranch Home · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Gillespie County, past the Rausch Ranch Home. This house was built in 1866 by Nicolaus Gerhard, a German immigrant, using local stones. His son Michael lived here before selling it to stonemason…

  • Vereins Kirche · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, where you can almost picture this building right on Main Street. It was the Vereins Kirche, built in the summer of 1847. More than just a church, it served as the town's school and…

  • Ellebracht-Moritz Homestead · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Ellebracht-Moritz Homestead, a testament to German immigration in the Texas Hill Country. Frederick Ellebracht built this log home in the early 1850s after arriving from Germany. Later,…

  • H. C. Keese Home · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the H.C. Keese Home, built by a German immigrant soon after he bought the land in the 1870s. Constructed from local wood and hand-hewn rock, this farmhouse saw the Keese family survive harsh frontier…

  • Wahrmund-Priess House · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Wahrmund-Priess House. The larger of the two houses on this property is original to the site and dates to the period of settlement by German immigrants in this part of Texas. Johann Christian…

  • Ludwig Doebbler House · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Ludwig Doebbler House, a testament to German immigration in Texas. Ludwig and his brother arrived in 1852, with Ludwig's family following a year later. They completed the first part of this home…

  • Holy Ghost Evangelical Protestant Church · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Holy Ghost Evangelical Protestant Church in Fredericksburg. Its roots go back to the first Protestant services held here in 1846. The congregation moved to this lot in 1888,…

  • Nimitz, Chester William · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, Texas, the birthplace of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. Born here in 1885, Nimitz would go on to command Allied forces to victory in the Pacific during World War II. He took the…

  • Enderle, Benjamin Lester · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, a region famous for its peaches. And right here, you're passing through the heart of it all, Fredericksburg. Back in 1921, Benjamin Enderle, a surveyor and teacher, started…

  • Gillespie County · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Gillespie County, a place settled by German immigrants in 1846, looking for a new home. They founded Fredericksburg, hoping to reach the Fisher-Miller Land Grant, but ended up establishing a…

  • Pioneer Flour Mills · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here is a story of grit and grain. In 1851, Carl Hilmar Guenther, a master millwright from Germany, sailed into Indianola. He traveled all the way to the…

  • Specht, Theodore · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, Texas, and right here is where Theodore Specht, a German immigrant, built a life after surviving a shipwreck that cost him his hearing and his bride-to-be. He arrived in <say-as…

  • Vereins-Kirche · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and right here, you're passing the site of the Vereins-Kirche. Built in 1847 by the first German settlers, this octagonal building was the heart of early Fredericksburg. It wasn't…

  • Fredericksburg, TX · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, a town founded in 1846 by German immigrants seeking a new home in Texas. Led by John O. Meusebach, they established this settlement sixty miles northwest of New Braunfels. The…

  • Baines, Joseph Wilson · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Gillespie County, maybe near Fredericksburg. Right here, Joseph Wilson Baines, a lawyer and former Texas Secretary of State, found his final home. After a career that included fighting in the…

  • Bickler, Martha Lungkwitz · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here in Fredericksburg, a piece of history was made. Back in 1872, Martha Lungkwitz Bickler, just seventeen years old, took a job at the state's General Land…

  • Dangers, Gottlieb Burchard · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, perhaps near Fredericksburg, where Gottlieb Dangers arrived in 1849. He came to Texas in 1846, a pastor and teacher for German immigrants. He settled in Fredericksburg and…

  • Easter Fires · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here near Fredericksburg, you might be catching the tail end of an ancient tradition: the Easter Fires. On the Saturday before Easter, as many as twenty-two hills…

  • Hirsch, Maximilian Justice · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, the birthplace of Max Hirsch, a legendary horse trainer. Born in 1880, Hirsch started young, running away at twelve to work with horses. He rode winners as a jockey before becoming…

  • Hunter, John M. · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, Texas, where in 1850, a dispute over whiskey turned deadly and cost the young county its history. Right here, John M. Hunter, the first county clerk and a merchant, refused to sell…

  • Krauskopf, Engelbert · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Gillespie County, near Fredericksburg, where Engelbert Krauskopf set up shop in the 1840s. He arrived from Germany as a cabinetmaker, but soon found his true calling as a gunsmith. He even made a…

  • Kuechler, Jacob · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, maybe near Fredericksburg, and you're surrounded by trees. Did you know that back in the late 1850s, Jacob Kuechler, a German immigrant and surveyor, was studying these…

  • Martin, Clarence White · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, perhaps near Fredericksburg. Right here, Clarence White Martin, a lawyer and judge, played a crucial role in saving the Alamo. In the early 1900s, as the historic mission…

  • Martin, Louis · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, a land settled by folks like Louis Martin. He arrived in Texas in 1844, part of the first wave of German immigrants. He helped establish Fredericksburg and was its first…

  • Rode, Diedrich Johann Gottlieb · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Gillespie County, near Fredericksburg, where Diedrich Rode arrived from Germany in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>. He became one of the very first settlers here, buying land…

  • Van der Stucken, Frank Valentine · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, the birthplace of Frank Van der Stucken, a composer and conductor who became a giant in American music! Born here in 1858, he left Texas young for Europe, studying with greats like…

  • Knopp, Johann Joseph · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Johann Joseph Knopp house, built of native stone right here in 1871. Knopp and his wife Katherina sailed six weeks from Germany, then traveled by oxcart to Fredericksburg. They paid seventy…

  • Market Square · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and right here is Market Square, the heart of this German immigrant town since its founding in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>. Imagine this place, still…

  • Cooley, Albert O. [A. O.] · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Gillespie County, and right here in Fredericksburg is where Albert O. Cooley lived a double life. Cooley was a Texas legislator, lawyer, and judge, serving in the Texas House and Senate from the…

  • Moursund, Walter Henrik · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, maybe near Fredericksburg where Walter Moursund was born in 1884. He was inspired to become a doctor after a childhood illness. After practicing medicine in several Texas towns, he joined…

  • Petsch, Alfred P. C. · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the heart of the Texas Hill Country, near Luckenbach and Fredericksburg. Right here, Alfred P. C. Petsch, born in 1887, built a remarkable life. He learned English after growing up speaking…

  • San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here, you're passing through the former territory of a little railroad with a big name: the San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway. Chartered in 1913,…

  • Allan, Aaron · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, maybe past Fredericksburg, where Aaron Allan Crenwelge was born in 1929. He became a pioneering radio DJ, adopting the name Aaron Allan. He launched New Braunfels's first…

  • Hillaire, Michael · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, a land that saw soldiers and settlers alike. Right here, near Fredericksburg, lived Michael Hillaire. Born in Germany around 1830, he came to America and enlisted in the…

  • Riley-Enderlin House · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Riley-Enderlin House, built in 1909 by Franz Stein for Emil and Bertha Riley. Just three years later, in 1912, Charles Enderlin, Sr. bought this home. Enderlin was a German immigrant and a Civil…

  • Old Gillespie County Courthouse · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the old Gillespie County Courthouse, built between 1881 and 1882. Designed by architect Alfred Giles, this native limestone building was known for its balance and symmetry. It served the county until…

  • Gillespie County · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Gillespie County, a land first crossed by roving Indian tribes and then settled by German pioneers starting in 1846. A group of Mormons even tried their luck at Zodiac in 1847. The county itself…

  • The August Hennersdorf House · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the August Hennersdorf House in Fredericksburg. August and Johanne Hennersdorf arrived from Prussia in 1855. In the early 1900s, they built this home, which might even incorporate octagonal columns…

  • Fredericksburg and Northern Railway · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here is Fredericksburg. This town once had its own railroad, the Fredericksburg and Northern Railway. Chartered back in 1917, it connected Fredericksburg to a…

  • Wrede, Friedrich Wilhelm Von, Jr. · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Gillespie County, right near Fredericksburg, where a German immigrant named Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede, Jr. helped shape this community. He arrived in Texas in 1844, serving as secretary to…

  • The Only Gun Cap Factory in Texas · 12.9 mi · Things to Do

    During the Civil War the Union blockade of southern ports made ammunition a precious commodity across the Confederacy. On this corner of West Main Street in…

  • Pape Log Cabin · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and just ahead is one of its oldest structures: the Pape Log Cabin. Built in 1846, this cabin tells a story of hardship and hope for German immigrants. Friedrich Pape, his wife…

  • Gun Cap Factory · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where, during the Civil War, Fredericksburg's own gunsmith E. Krauskoff and silversmith Adolph Lungkwitz produced vital gun caps. They invented machinery to roll copper thin and cut it for…

  • German Beer Inside the Town's Own 1847 Stone · 12.9 mi

    At the corner of 301 West Main Street, Altdorf Biergarten serves German food and beer out of a limestone building that traces back to 1847, which makes it roughly as old as the town itself. That date matters here. The…

  • Christian Crenwelge Place · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and just ahead is the Christian Crenwelge Place. Crenwelge, a German immigrant who arrived in Texas in 1854, was a farmer and a cabinetmaker. In 1872, he bought this property…

  • Dangers Stone House · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Dangers Stone House, built in 1851 by Reverend Gottlieb Dangers. He was a German immigrant who arrived in Texas just two years earlier. This house is a great example of pioneer German…

  • Patton, Albert Lee · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the historic Citizens Bank building in Fredericksburg. Originally built in 1897 by Albert Lee Patton, a tinsmith who turned businessman, this native limestone structure served a dual purpose. The…

  • Little Rock House · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Little Rock House in Fredericksburg, built right after the Civil War on land granted to German immigrants. Heinrich Ochs, a pioneer teacher, bought it in 1868 and his family owned it for 61…

  • Hoerster Building · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hoerster Building in Fredericksburg, built around the turn of the 20th century for J. A. Hoerster. This limestone Victorian commercial building still boasts its original storefront, with a…

  • Bierschwale, Heinrich · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Heinrich Bierschwale home, built between 1872 and 1873. Bierschwale, a German immigrant, first worked as a teacher in rural Gillespie and Mason counties. He later became the county and district…

  • Cross Mountain: A 1757 Spanish Cross, Lost and Found · 13.0 mi

    Long before the United States existed, in 1757, Spanish missionaries trekking from San Antonio toward Mission San Saba paused on a lonely Hill Country hilltop and erected a wooden cross as a trail landmark. It stood…

  • The Texas White House · 13.0 mi · Things to Do

    During his presidency LBJ conducted so much official business from his Stonewall ranch that reporters called it the Texas White House. Foreign leaders visited.…

  • Meckel-Hanus Building · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and right here is the Meckel-Hanus Building. What started as a saddle and harness shop in the late 1800s, owned by Henry Meckel, was transformed into something completely different…

  • Sunday House · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and you might see a relic of a fascinating German tradition: the Sunday House. Imagine living way out in the country, miles from town. When it was time to trade goods, attend…

  • Ferdinand Hohenberger Farmstead · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, near Comfort. Look around – this land was once the farmstead of Ferdinand Hohenberger. He and his family left Germany in 1855, enduring a 73-day sea voyage before landing…

  • Meinhardt, Albert · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the home of Albert and Doris Meinhardt, built around 1850. This two-story limestone house started as their pioneer residence. Fast forward to 1879, and Doris, now a widow, sold it to her former…

  • Moritz-Hitzfeld-Jacoby House · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Moritz-Hitzfeld-Jacoby House, a home built in 1907 for newlyweds Edmund and Anna Moritz. What's special is that its limestone walls were built using stone from the Moritz family quarry, with…

  • Schmidt-Dietz Building · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Schmidt-Dietz Building, a Fredericksburg landmark with a long history. Ludwig Schmidt built this stone structure back in the 1860s, originally planning it as a hotel. Fast forward to the early…

  • Schwarz Building · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Fredericksburg, and right here is the Schwarz Building. Built in 1907 by Charles and Mary Schwarz, this limestone structure was more than just a store. It housed Schwarz's General Merchandise and…

  • John Peter Tastch Home, 1856 · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the John Peter Tatsch Home, built in 1856. Tatsch, a cabinet-maker and turner who came from Germany, used local stone to build this house himself. He did all the woodwork, even flooring the front…

  • William Wahrmund House · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, and if you look closely, you might spot the William Wahrmund House, built in 1875. Wahrmund himself was a big deal here, serving as Gillespie County Judge for years. He hired local…

  • Old Kammlah House · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Old Kammlah House, built in 1849 by German settler Henry Kammlah I. Notice the four front rooms and the outside stair to the attic. Later, his son Henry II opened a general store in the front…

  • Old St. Mary's Church (Die Alte Kirche) · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Old St. Mary's Church, built by Fredericksburg's German settlers. Construction finished in 1863, and it served as the main parish church until 1906. Look for its Gothic features like the steeple,…

  • St. Mary's Catholic Church · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. Mary's Catholic Church. Rapid membership growth during the late 19th century prompted St. Mary's Church to complete plans for a new sanctuary in 1901. This Gothic-inspired native stone structure…

  • Cordes, Henry · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Henry Cordes house, built right here in 1893. Cordes, born in Fredericksburg, had this limestone home constructed by skilled stonemasons of the era. It started as a three-room house, and the…

  • Fredericksburg Lodge No. 794, A.F. & A.M. · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fredericksburg Lodge No. 794, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Its history traces back to 1897 when a warrant of dispensation was granted. The lodge has moved several times, acquiring…

  • Vogel Sunday House · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past a piece of Fredericksburg history: the Vogel Sunday House. In the 1880s, German immigrant Christian Vogel built half of this house so his family could stay in town for Saturday trading and Sunday…

  • First Methodist Church of Fredericksburg · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Methodist Church of Fredericksburg, the oldest Methodist church in the Texas Hill Country. It began in 1849 as a German mission, founded by Reverend Eduard Schneider. Imagine…

  • Loeffler-Weber House · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Loeffler-Weber House, a home built by German immigrants right in Fredericksburg's first winter, back in 1846. Gerhard Rorig threw up a simple log room and loft to survive that first year. Then,…

  • Gruen-Doebbler Homestead · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Gruen-Doebbler Homestead, a home with a story etched in stone. The earliest part of this two-story house was built in the late 1800s by pioneer Ludwig Doebbler for his daughter, Mathilda, and her…

  • Jacob Neffendorf · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fredericksburg, a town that owes a lot to early settlers like Jacob Neffendorf. He arrived from Germany in 1845, helped survey this very townsite, and then moved families here from New Braunfels.…

  • The Peace Treaty That Was Never Broken · 13.2 mi

    In 1847, the German colony in Fredericksburg was on the brink of collapse, surrounded by wary Comanche warriors. Instead of preparing for war, the town's 34-year-old leader, John Meusebach, chose a radical path. He and…

  • The Magic of Enchanted Rock · 13.2 mi

    Just north of Fredericksburg rises one of Texas's most iconic landmarks: Enchanted Rock. It’s a massive dome of pink granite, the largest of its kind in the United States. For centuries, it has captivated people. Native…

  • The Easter Rabbit's Bonfires · 13.2 mi

    If you happen to be here on the Saturday night before Easter, look to the hills. You'll see them dotted with bonfires. This is the 'Easter Fires,' a tradition unique to Fredericksburg. The legend blends German folklore…

  • The Science of Texas Wine · 13.2 mi

    The explosion of wineries you see around Fredericksburg isn't just a trend; it's a story of agricultural science. For decades, no one thought you could grow world-class wine grapes in the brutal Texas heat. The climate…

  • The Lost Language of Fredericksburg · 13.2 mi

    For generations, the streets of Fredericksburg had their own unique sound: Texas German. Known as 'Texasdeutsch,' it was a dialect of German spoken by the descendants of the original settlers. Because the community was…

  • Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, a true Texas original. Built in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1852</say-as>, this is the oldest Lutheran church in the entire Texas Hill Country. Imagine…

Explore Stonewall on the Map
All music from Texas → Find another town Vote on city songs

Sign up for the free newsletter

Longer stories, research notes, photos, videos, and where the road goes next. Free, and no iPhone needed.

Subscribe free