From distillery to woolen mill to laundry
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Two sisters, Debbie Elliott and Lynn Norvell, have built homes on the property that has been in their family over 100 years. The property is on the corner of Garden and Comal Sts. on the Comal River, next to the Garden Street Bridge. They are very much interested in people […]
Journals are important to history
By Myra Lee Adams Goff A designated post office can reveal a great deal about an area and about who lived there. In Comal County the Spring Branch Post Office was at one time headed by Gottlieb Elbel and he had the forethought to keep a journal from 1867, when he became postmaster to 1872. […]
Wo in Himmel ist Anhalt?
By Myra Lee Adams Goff The third weekend in May I realized how hard it was to preserve historic customs. We can remodel, renovate and preserve buildings, bridges and artifacts. Even history is preserved when we write it down. But the arbitrary laws of custom are transient. In other words,” at random” customs are changeable. […]
Time calls for change in roads
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Are you one who thinks that John Meusebach led the group that founded Fredericksburg up Fredericksburg Road, out Highway 46 and then straight on to Fredericksburg? I know that’s what I thought, but it’s not true. I ran across evidence that this more recent pathway from New Braunfels to Fredericksburg […]
Emigrants unprepared for conditions in ships
By Myra Lee Adams Goff In your imagination, go back to 1845. The German immigrants will be crossing the Guadalupe River into what would become the settlement of New Braunfels. The date is March 21st and in 1845, it was Good Friday. As we know, Good Friday is not often on that date, but New […]
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 set up by Pope Gregory […]
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. Carrying out the theme of […]
Church Hill School served Hortontown and Neighborsville
By Myra Lee Adams Goff From Union St., turn onto Common and drive straight to the Guadalupe River. At the bridge and on the east side of the river, as far as you can see, look left and right. You are looking at Hortontown. Down river to the right of Hortontown was Neighborsville. These two […]
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 of the best descriptions of […]
“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 […]
