By Myra Lee Adams Goff In 1980, a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark was designated here in Comal County. This landmark is the grotto right behind the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church. The story behind this particular designation is important to all of us because it reminds us of that dreaded word “Pandemic” that we became so familiar with just a few years back. Don’t we have flu every year? Yes. Do we have flu pandemics every year? No. In 1918 a flu pandemic (epidemic on a large scale) broke out worldwide killing an estimated 50 to 100 million people in the world with ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Do you keep a schedule? Do you stick to it or once you write something down, your brain says, “OK. That’s done”? Lists, like grocery lists, are a little like schedules and come in handy. For example, when you get home from the grocery store, you can check off what you forgot. Maybe Prince Carl kept a schedule and maybe it looked like this: Have the servants pack for a trip to Texas. What should I take? Maybe a bathing suit? Trinkets for Indians? Guns? I’ve heard about buffalos. Never seen one but I hear they come in handy. Get to Texas ...

Meet the Author The “Adelsverein” trilogy can be purchased at Sophie’s Shop at the Sophienburg. Author Celia Hayes will be the guest speaker at the Scholarship Brunch of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Ferdinand Lindheimer Chapter, on Saturday, March 12. Brunch and book review are $20. Reservations may be made by calling Roberta Schmidt at (830) 626-2225 before Feb. 28. By Myra Lee Adams Goff Author Celia Hayes has written a historical novel called “Adelsverein”. It’s actually a trilogy (three books, one story). Novels are not my favorite form ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Waggoners or Teamsters were important to early New Braunfels. They not only led the wagon trains of the early German settlers but they hauled freight to and from the frontier, especially the Gulf coast. G. Fred Oheim, editor of the Zeitung’s Jahrbuch in 1943, named 340 teamsters who “transported merchandise to New Braunfels from Indianola, Lavaca, Victoria, Cuero, Kingsbury, Luling, Marion, Austin and San Antonio from 1860 to1877 for Ernst Sherff alone.” Sherff was owner of a large merchandise business in New Braunfels that he purchased from ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff In the Sophienburg Museum, there is a display of several prominent early civic leaders in New Braunfels. You will see Zink, von Coll, Lindheimer, Seele, Ervendberg, Meusebach and Dr. Theodore Koester. It seems that Koester was the most controversial of all these early leaders. Dr. Koester was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1817. While he was in medical school in Germany, family sources say that Koester fathered a child out of wedlock. He gave the baby to his childless brother Ferdinand and wife to raise. Shortly thereafter, he decided to leave Germany and emigrate to ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff In 1916, a unit of United States Army soldiers was on maneuvers from San Antonio and camped on the Landa Ranch overlooking Landa Park. One of those soldiers camping there was young Victor Kase who would return to New Braunfels to become band director at New Braunfels High School. Kase later said that the maneuvers were for the purpose of fighting Pancho Villa, should he advance this far. Returning to New Braunfels in the school year 1943-1944, Kase accomplished a great deal before leaving in 1947. He came here with 20 years of music education and performance to his ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff If we could have been in New Braunfels 164 years ago about this time of year (Dec. 31, 1846), we would have witnessed a group of about 130 early settlers on their way to a potential hanging. These new arrivals from Germany were disgruntled about the way things had turned out for them in their new country. And their target was none other than the second Commissioner General for the Adelsverein, John O. Meusebach. Earlier in the day, the group led by Rudolph Iwonski posted a proclamation in the stores and other public places asking citizens of New Braunfels to not ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Each year, Christmas traditions are observed by Christians around the world. Here in New Braunfels, these traditions vary according to denomination and ancestry, but basically they are a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago. The Christmas tree idea was brought across the ocean by the first German emigrants to New Braunfels. The candle-adorned fir tree (an evergreen) represented life everlasting and the stars of heaven. Prince Carl found an oak tree on the coast and hung gifts on the limbs for children. (See Sophienburg.com Dec. 13, 2006) ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff NEW BRAUNFELS - In old New Braunfels, the Faust family was prominent and so were the homes they built. There are actually five buildings that could be referred to as Faust structures either by direct construction or indirect connection to the Faust family. Who were these Fausts that built the beautiful homes? The first Faust to appear in New Braunfels history books was Martin Faust, wife Gertrude and two young children who arrived from Prussia in 1850. Martin Faust’s oldest of five children was Joseph (1844-1924). When the Civil War broke out, Joseph was in ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Everyone on Sophie’s Hill is gearing up for the 22nd Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market). This event at the Civic Center is Nov. 20, 21 and 22 and the biggest fund raiser that the Sophienburg Museum and Archives has. A city is judged by how much pride it has in its history and traditions. The Sophienburg is the guardian of the archives which preserve the written history of the area through thousands of documents and photographs; the museum displays the history of the settlement from 1845 through the present with interesting artifacts of early life in New ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Let’s go on a treasure hunt. There won’t be a prize but your knowledge of the Old San Antonio Road, alias Kings Highway, alias El Camino Real de los Tejas will be greatly increased. So you always thought that the Camino Real was one road? Wrong. Researchers reveal that what we call the Camino Real was really a corridor of several roads. Even Comal County includes two main roads and several small ones. We cannot drive the two roads. We could follow them “as the crow flies”, but we’re not crows and we can’t fly. So we will drive the ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff When the Gemischter Chor Harmonie (Sängerbund) sings on the last Sunday of Wurstfest, they will be upholding a long-standing tradition of celebrating with music. For the past 50 years bands,singers, polka dancers, waltzers, chicken dancers, and some very sophisticated instrumentalists have danced hand and hand through the Wursthalle. The very first Wurstfest, loosely called Sausage Week in 1961, was opened with another Sängerbund group, the Clear Springs Frohsinn with Otto Seidel as director. Raymond Salge remembers practicing the solo part of “God ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Did you know that museums come to life at night? The Sophienburg will for two nights on Friday, October 15th and Saturday, October 16th Five well-known characters from old New Braunfels will be there. The program has been written for children and adults alike. Children will come away from the program with a good understanding of what a museum is, its importance and a souvenir cookie. This interesting and informative program is the brainchild of Sophienburg employee Amber Miller in cooperation with the Circle Arts Theater (Friday) and the NBHS’s Key Club and ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Here we are again: “It’s Fair Time.” This celebration has lasted more than 100 years. Would you like to hear some details of the first Comal County Fair? Read on. An article in the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung” in 1892 pointed out that Fredericksburg and Lockhart had a successful fair, so, why not New Braunfels? After all, the trains had agreed to run specials from San Antonio and Austin to New Braunfels and that would bring crowds. Large numbers of citizens could be counted on to display livestock, agricultural products, machines, antiques, ...

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Have you ever heard the story of Chief Red Wing and how he became the first person to get the death penalty in Comal County? It’s a sad and terrible story. Here’s how it goes: On Oct. 6, 1930, Henry Cavazos, proprietor of the Cuban Shows, pitched a large tent about five blocks east of Main Plaza on Seguin Street for his traveling show. These traveling shows were a common practice in the 1920s and 1930s. Cavazos rented a small house nearby where he, his wife (who was also in the show), his two small boys and a small 2-year-old girl named Evangelina lived ...