Early German immigrants faced tough times at Christmas
By Myra Lee Adams Goff — The year is 1849, just five years after the first emigrants arrived on the Texas coast. Hermann Seele has been invited to spend December 26th with Pastor L.C. Ervendberg, his wife Luise, their five children, and the 19 orphans left parentless by the devastating immigration
4th of July Parade That Wasn’t
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — That place we call HOME, New Braunfels, has long been a “go to” place for summer vacations. It seems especially so for the holidays, like the upcoming July 4th. Each year the excitement grows as Main Plaza is draped in her patriotic finery and the stars
The cold facts of New Braunfels
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — New Braunfelsers were giddy with joy when snowflake clusters fell on December 7th. Waking up that next morning was a “blessed event” of sorts for us locals. Some newcomers amongst us wondered at our ecstasy over snow, and in trying to explain, I realized that
The rest of the story …
By Tara Kohlenberg, Sophienburg Executive Director — You might remember the article written a couple of weeks back about Karl Klinger and Sophienburg Hill, where I mentioned that the old Sophienburg Verein Headquarters was destroyed by a storm. It wasn’t just any storm and now you get to hear the
Peace on earth, good will to men
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Imagine that you are on the Texas Coast where you have just arrived on one of the Adelsverein ships. You left Germany three months ago. You are far away from the Heimatland (homeland) for the first time ever and it is Christmas time. Your whole
Joe Sanders has impact on tourism
By Myra Lee Adams Goff On May 8, 1914, the New Braunfels Herald’s front page story announced that “a model federal highway was to be built from Austin to San Antonio”. This Federal Post Road was a forerunner to IH 35. The same year that the road was completed in
Drought, floods, and war affect Comal County Fair
By Myra Lee Adams Goff There were only three times in the long history of the Comal County Fair that the fair was postponed. Two times had to do with weather and one time had to do with war. The very first fair was scheduled to be held in November