Voelcker family history unique

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Immigrant Julius Voelcker arrived in New Braunfels in 1845 and at age 25 became one of the First Founders of the city. Before arriving, he had studied pharmacology and medicine at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. His profession in the 1850 census was listed

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We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet for auld lang syne

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Have you heard of Sylvester’s Abend? Have you heard of New Year’s Eve? Two names for the same event. To arrive at the Gregorian calendar that we and most European countries use was not an easy process. Many changes took place before the final calendar

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City’s “soul searching” program helps understand history

By Myra Lee Adams Goff They walked (some rode on golf carts) through the Comal Cemetery at the City’s Parks Department “Soul Searching” program. About 360 people met eight “souls” who were buried in the cemetery. The land for this cemetery originally belonged to John F. Torrey and was managed

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Old Forke Store ready for Wurstfest

By Myra Lee Adams Goff A flurry of activity and preparation is engulfing organizations that involve themselves with Wurstfest activities. The ten- day celebration is from Nov. 2nd through the 11th. One organization, the Conservation Society, located on Churchill Drive, utilizes their grounds to hold a major fundraiser during Wurstfest.

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Locke nurseries business of the past

By Myra Lee Adams Goff When I think of Botanists in New Braunfels, I immediately think of Ferdinand Lindheimer. Lindheimer was given property on the Comal for his botanical garden. No doubt his accomplishments were many, but there were others in the field who contributed much to the beauty of

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What a woman!

By Myra Lee Adams Goff One of the more exciting stories concerning the early settlers of New Braunfels was that of Betty Holekamp charging across the Guadalupe on a horse after Prince Carl’s spectacular show of bravado. The story was probably somewhat embellished over the years, but nevertheless it’s a

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The year of the courthouse and the Spanish-American War

By Myra Lee Adams Goff The year 1898 was the year of the Comal County Courthouse and the year of the Spanish-American War. In 1998 Dr. Robert Govier translated the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung” from German into English for the Sophienburg . The Govier and Adams families were old family friends.

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Artist Iwonski part of Civil War exhibit

By Myra Lee Adams Goff On May 19th the Sophienburg Museum and Archives will present a Civil War Exhibit about what was happening here in Comal County during the war and the period of Restoration which followed it. One segment of the exhibit, sponsored jointly by the NB German American

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Kindermaskenball leads crowd to Folkfest

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Step into the past this coming Saturday and Sunday at the Folkfest put on by the Heritage Society at the Heritage Village on Churchhill Drive. The whole event kicks off with the annual children’s masked parade, known as Kindermasken (children’s masks) or the old way,

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Pictures can be painted with words

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Thanks to some early settlers, we have pictures painted with words of what early NB looked like from writers like Roemer, Lindheimer, Brach and the most prolific of all writers, Hermann Seele. Let’s not forget all those personal letters that were saved by families. One

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