Peach Pit BBQ changes Name

Peach Pit BBQ at 342 West Main Street has changed its name to David's Old Fashioned Pit Barbecue. Same owner, David Herrera; same great taste. New sign.

Fredericksburg Chorale Mid-Winter Concert - 2/4-5

The Fredericksburg Chorale will perform original and classical choral and instrumental music during its Mid-Winter Concert at St. Joseph’s Halle, 212 W. San Antonio St. in Fredericksburg. Performances will be this Friday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, February 5 at 3:00 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. Admission is by donation. For details, call 830-997-6869.

Fest Nacht - January 22

A very limited number of tables are still available for purchase for Fest Nacht (A Festive Night)...a night like no other! 5 hours of dance, music, drink, and fun with "Wild and Crazy" people. This year's theme is "Saturday Night Live" (costume party). Music by Mingo Fish Trap and DJ.

Proceeds benefit the Fredericksburg Food Pantry and the Hill Country Community Needs Council. All table purchases and donations are tax deductible. Cost is $450 per table of ten. Lots of fun for a worthy cause!

For more information, please visit www.festnacht.com, e-mail party@festnacht.com, or call Kyle Biedermann, 998-7111 or Doug Gamble, 998-2601.

Golden Hub Chili Dinner Fundraiser - 1/21

The Golden Hub Community Center is having a Chili Supper Fundraiser, January 21, at 1009 N. Lincoln. The social mixer starts at 5:30 p.m. and dinner is served at 6. Wine and punch will be available. Tickets available for $8 at the door or $7 pre-sale before the 17th. To-go is also available. The menu includes homemade chili, cornbread, beans, corn chips, salad and bread pudding for dessert. Dinner ticket holders will be entered to win a door prize.

All proceeds will benefit the Golden Hub's programs and activities. The Golden Hub is a non-profit organization that manages the local Meals on Wheels program. Tickets and more information are available at 997-7131.

The History of Fredericksburg, Texas

The German Emigration Company, or Adelsverein, was organized in 1842 to establish a new Germany on Texas soil, between the Llano and Colorado rivers. The first settlers arrived in December of 1844. On March 15, 1845 the city of New Braunfels was established as the first in a projected series of settlements. On May 8, John Meusebach arrived in Texas and began setting up the new settlement sixty miles northwest of New Braunfels, where two streams met four miles above the Pedernales River.

The first wagontrain of 120 settlers arrived from New Braunfels on May 8, 1846, after a sixteen-day journey, and Meusebach named the new settlement Fredericksburg after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Each settler received one town lot and ten acres of farmland nearby. The town was laid out like the German villages along the Rhine with one long, wide main street roughly paralleling Town Creek.

Within two years Fredericksburg had grown into a thriving town of almost 1,000, despite an epidemic that killed between 100 and 150 residents in the summer and fall of 1846. Those two years also saw the opening of a wagon road between Fredericksburg and Austin; the signing of the Meusebach-Comanche Treaty, which effectively eliminated the threat of Indian attack, and is the only treaty between whites and Indians that was never broken; the construction of the Vereins-Kirche, which served for fifty years as a church, school, fortress, and meeting hall; the formal organization of Gillespie County by the Texas legislature, which made Fredericksburg the county seat; the construction of the Nimitz Hotel; and the establishment by the United States Army of Fort Martin Scott, which became an important market for the merchants and laborers of Fredericksburg, two miles east of town. Fredericksburg also benefited from its location as the last town before El Paso on the Emigrant or Upper El Paso Road.

Religion played an important part in the lives of the German settlers of Gillespie County. Devout farmers drove as much as twenty miles into town for religious services and built Fredericksburg's characteristic Sunday houses for use on weekends and religious holidays.

Fredericksburg, like many of the German communities in south central Texas, generally supported the Union in the Civil War. And the people of Fredericksburg and Gillespie County suffered under Confederate martial law, imposed in 1862, and from the depredations of such outlaws as James P. Waldrip, who was shot by an unknown assassin beneath a live oak tree outside the Nimitz Hotel in 1867.

After the war, the Germans tried to maintain their independence by steadfastly refusing to learn or use English. Not until after 1900 were the first purely English-speaking teachers employed in Fredericksburg's public schools. During World War I, the Germans were looked on with suspicion, and the local papers started publishing in English. The suspicion of Germans didn’t occur during World War II, and Fredericksburg’s own Chester Nimitz became Commander in Chief of the Pacific forces during World War II.

After the war, Fredericksburg began to grow and attract tourists to experience the German heritage of the area. Today, it is one of Texas’ most visited destninations.

Port 'n Pairing on Wine Road 290 - 1/22

Each of the nine participating wineries along Wine Road 290 will showcase their port and pair it with a scrumptious treat during regular winery hours this Saturday, January 23rd. Tasting fees vary.

419 West San Antonio – Hoffman-Keller House

Continue West on San Antonio.

In February 1869, Johann Hoffman built the house of solid limestone with two rooms on the first floor, and a large bedroom and storage room on the second floor. The front room, larger in size, was the combination bedroom and sitting room. The smaller room behind it was the kitchen. Originally there was a narrow, ladder-like stairway that led out of the kitchen into the storage room (or rumpelkammer) at the back of the second floor. A small window in the east wall lit the stairway. Martin Keller, a Cain City farmer, bought the house when he retired. By 1938, the Kellers had died, and the family sold the home. It passed through several hands and many of the changes seen today were made, perhaps including the removal of the plaster that originally covered the limestone walls.

Jazz in January at Chisholm Trail Winery - 1/15

Enjoy live jazz at Chisholm Trail Winery, 2367 Usener Road (9 miles west of Fredericksburg on Highway 290), on Saturday from 2-5 pm, featuring The George Eychner Quartet. Admission is free. Call (830) 990-2675 for more information.

404, 408, 410 West San Antonio – Sunday Houses

Sunday Houses are unique to Fredericksburg. When the settlers arrived, they received ten acres farms and a lot in town. They built these small one-room structures, usually with a sleeping loft or half-story above them reached by an outside stairway, so they would have place to stay when they came for Sunday church services. The families would arrive on Saturdays to shop for needed staples, and to sell their butter and eggs. Saturday night they went visiting or dancing. Sunday evenings they returned to their homes in the country. Families often used them, too, when someone needed to be near a doctor or when children attended confirmation classes. The arrival of automobiles and good roads was the end of usefullness for Sunday Houses. Many found permanent use by older residents who moved to town when they turned their farm or ranch over to their children. (Note: All small houses are not necessarily Sunday Houses.)

Across the street is a Sunday House that has had the front porch enclosed. And around the corner on South Adams is The Yellow House.

Rockbox Theater is Dark -12/29-1/20

Rockbox Theater is closed until January 20 for their annual vacation.

Navajo Grill closed Jan 9-13

Beginning Sunday, January 9 until Thursday, January 13, the Navajo Grill Restaurant in Fredericksburg will be closed. Stop by its 803 E. Main St. location when it reopens for business at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, January 14.

Yarn Dolls at Pioneer Museum - 12/8

Step back in time and make and take a yarn doll made from yarn scraps and odds and ends at the Pioneer Museum, 325 West Main, Saturday, January 8th, 10 a.m.~2 p.m. Also visit with the Pioneer Handwerkers on the Museum grounds to learn more about forgotten needlecrafts. Event is included with regular admission. For more information, please call 990-8441.

Enchanted Rock Closed for Public Hunt until Friday at 2 pm

Due to a scheduled hunt at Enchanted Rock, the park will be closed to visitors this week through Friday, January 7 until 2:00 p.m.. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area is located at 16710 RR 965, 18 miles north of Fredericksburg. For information, call 830-685-3636.

Acoustic Music Workshop & Concert in Kerrville - 1/29

Musicians of all levels can build their skills at a new one-day January Acoustic Music Workshop in Kerrville on Saturday January 29, sponsored by Kerrville ISD’s Club Ed and Bob Miller’s Hill Country Acoustic Music Camp.

The workshop will feature three world-class musicians: Alan Munde on Banjo, David Hamburger on Guitar and Pops Bayless on Ukulele. All three play Americana and Roots music ranging from Folk to Blues and Bluegrass.

The Workshop consists of each instructor teaching three classes on Saturday, topped off by an exclusive faculty “House Concert” at the Union Church on the Schreiner University campus.

Alan Munde is a recording artist and author of several instructional publications. He has taught Bluegrass and Country Music at South Plains College in Levelland since 1986. Munde’s Banjo Workshops are - Rolls and how to use them; Chords and how to use them; and Songs & accompaniment styles.

David Hamburger is a renown guitarist who has appeared at Merle Fest and the Kerrville and Philadelphia Folk Festivals, toured with Joan Baez, and performed with the great string players. His guitar, slide guitar and dobro playing can be heard on many albums. David is also a contributing editor to Acoustic Guitar and the author of a dozen books. He will teach Guitar Workshop - Theory; 6 degrees of Travis Picking; and Fingerpicking Blues.

Pops Bayless brings over three decades of performing experience on the ukulele. An accomplished teacher, Pops has presented a myriad of uke-based workshops at different schools and fests across the country including the Augusta Heritage Center, Blue Stone Folk School, Midwest Ukulele Festival, Ukulele Expo, and the Dallas Uke Fest. His Uke Workshops will feature Strums; 3 chord songs; and Chord Shapes.

Workshops will meet at the Kerr Arts & Cultural Center, 228 Earl Garrett St, Kerrville. Class Times are:

Class Period 1, 10:00am to 11:15am
Class Period 2, 1:00pm to 2:15pm
Class Period 3, 2:30pm to 3:45pm

Each class period is $40, or students can sign up for all three workshops by one instructor for a discount price of $100.

The day will be finished with an exclusive “House Concert” featuring all Workshop instructors. The workshop is Saturday evening, January 29, 2011, from 6 - 8 p.m. at Union Church at the corner of Broadway, Water, and Travis Streets in Kerrville. Concert admission is $20, and guests are welcome to bring a snack and beverage to share.

Class sizes are limited. Students can reserve their seats through Club Ed by several methods: Online at www.clubed.net, email at club.ed@kerrvilleisd.net, Phone 830-895-4386, Fax at 830-257-0566, or in person at the Auld Center, 1121 Second Street, Kerrville TX 78028.

2011 Roots Music Series Lineup

In 2011, the Pioneer Museum will be celebrating its 10th year of the Roots Music Series in the Texas Hill Country. For this special occasion, we will have a few surprises and an extra “Indoor Encore” in the Historic Sanctuary.

The Roots Music Series is a fundraiser for the Gillespie County Historical Society, a non-profit organization. It is a series of outdoor concerts under the trees on the grounds of the Pioneer Museum. Every summer we have 5 shows with 5 different genres of Roots music from 3 unique performers each night. We offer food, beer, wine and refreshments for sale and all kids under 17 get in free.

Visit www.pioneermuseum.net/roots-music for more details.

Come join us!

2011 Dates and Genres

May 28 - Bluegrass Night

June 25 - Americana Night

July 30 - Country Night

Aug 20 - Blues Night

Sept 24 - Roots Remix Special

Oct 15 - Roots Indoor Encore in Historic Sanctuary