Awake: 5:29am Temp 32 sleep 5+43 sunny overnight @ Fredericksburg, Texas.
Around 10:00am, (4) of us ride into town (5 min) & visit the Pioneer Museum Complex @ West Main street. Even before the tour begins, Mr. Clinton S, a museum volunteer, had us sit down & began telling us how this building & the family got started here in Fredericksburg way back in 1849. Clinton was amazing: age 84, he wore no glasses, no hearing aid & used no notes. His story lasted some 45 min or more. If you’re interested, I’ll shorten it.
This museum was originally a one room house; then expanded by adding (3) kitchens, a cellar, a stone covered patio & numerous bedrooms + living area. The original family occupied the structure consistently from 1849 until the 1940’s, running the original room as a general store & living in the rear quarters.
We also learned how these pioneering Germans made peace with the nearby Comanche Indian Nation; an agreement that has never been broken. Clinton toured us through the rear of the house, the kitchen & living room with lots of artifacts belonging to the family. Then he turned us loose to see the cellar & go on our own walking tour of the other buildings in the complex: the smoke house, barn with working tools & attached blacksmith shop; the Sunday house, a 16 ft by 20 ft. small structure to serve as a place to eat & rest when traveling on weekends, holidays & to funerals or doctors visits from their farm. These were typical uses of the small houses; furnished simple, they had no running water or electricity & they are found only in Fredericksburg. Usually one only peers through the window to see the Sunday house but Clinton came by & unlocked the door for an inside tour. He also invited us into the one room school house that was so well furnished, it was as if classes would resume tomorrow. There is more but I probably have said enough.
Lunch time @ the Altdorf Biergarten. Kathy & I share a Bratwurst with sauerkraut sandwich with potato chips. It tasted as good as the one in Luckenbach.
After lunch, we tour the Marketplatz & the Vereins Kirche building . This octagonal structure was the first public building in the city, serving as a house of worship for all denominations, school, and meeting hall. Now it holds archives and photographs.
The Fredericksburg Brewing Co is just up the street & they are offering sample tastes of 20 different wines; our kind of place. We didn’t try all 20 but G & G found a few that they would like more of. That pleased the wine maker & we hinted that we might return.
After a short visit to the Chocolate Store & then we return to our campground.
G & G share their special wine with cheese & Triscuits @ the picnic table. Then we move inside their motorhome for a dinner of: sirloin steaks, sweet potatoes cooked on their outdoor grill, mixed salad & cooked zucchini. Gary & I love having these (2) gourmet chefs cooking on a regular basis.
High temp=65 Lights out: 11:39pm
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