True Crime Series: A Christmas murder
By Simon V. Simek — Six score years ago to this very week of January, a story appeared in the English-language New Braunfels Herald, while the German-language paper, Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung, had run the story the previous week. They both detailed an interesting and puzzling report about how a meeting hall dedication party on Christmas night […]
New Year’s Day callers
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — “There was a little custom that, I think, has completely died out. It’s called New Year’s Callers.” So began a story told by local New Braunfels resident, Kola Albrecht Zipp. She was born in 1899 and remembered her older sisters participating in New Year’s Day Calling in the early 1900s. […]
A joyful Christmas of Lions, angels and firemen
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Have you ever experienced a Christmas where you thought you would get nothing from Santa? I am sure that there are several good children that have worried about getting gifts due to their parents’ circumstances. During the Great Depression, it was the generosity of angels that helped out needy children […]
Oak or cedar Christmas trees?
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Christmas lights and decorations are going up all over town. I love all the green, the red, the shiny and the bright. Our German town founders did too. The tradition of putting up a Christmas tree goes back to 16th century Europe. Germanic-speaking Christians brought fresh-cut evergreens into their houses […]
Traditional sausage making: a time-honored process
By Tara V. Kohlenberg ─ One might think that New Braunfels knows sausage because of Wurstfest, when it is really the other way around. New Braunfels has Wurstfest because We Know Sausage. Sausage making is an art that requires patience, skill, and attention to detail. A food staple of many cultures, sausage evolved as a […]
Searching for clues
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Researching your family? Maybe you want to know about who lived in/owned your home? The Sophienburg Museum and Archives has resources to help you! Research, of any subject, is basically detective work — analyzing the available records, searching through assembled stories and examining photographs and maps. The Sophienburg has been […]
Making the old new again
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — A drive through downtown New Braunfels is somewhat like a visual history of architecture course comparing different architectural styles from 1845 to mid-20th century. It may just look like a bunch of old buildings sitting side by side to some, but they tell the cultural and socioeconomic timeline of our […]
Polkas and accordions
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — With the Comal County Fair over and done, we look forward to the other fall community events. Dia de los Muertos comes next and will be followed by the granddaddy of them all, Wurstfest! For me, a first founder descendant, Wurstfest is my favorite. It is much more than beer […]
Hermann Sons #21 celebrating 135 years
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — This year, the New Braunfels Hermann Sons Lodge #21 is celebrating 135 years. What sounded like a simple “Happy Birthday” article soon became a rabbit hole that I could not ignore. Hold on! First of all, who is Hermann and why do his sons have a lodge? I learned that […]
“What’s in a name?” — William Shakespeare
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — What if New Braunfels was not named New Braunfels? I had never considered this, but of course the wonderful historian Oscar Haas did and recorded his findings in his book, History of New Braunfels and Comal County 1844-1946. There are two occasions on record wherein New Braunfels nearly lost its […]
