Fredericksburg, TX:
The Hill Country's Heidelburg

There aren't many places where bratwurst, chicken-fried steak and tacos share the menu. But that's Fredericksburg, Texas - founded by German immigrants, worked by cowboys, and frequented by Tejanos.

Up in the Texas hill country about 60 miles from San Antonio and Austin, Fredericksburg seems an unlikely place for a German colony. But in the 1840s, leaving the leiderhosen behind in Leipsig was a good move for many people. Germany was in the midst of a depression. Even if there was money, the laws left everything to the eldest son, so younger siblings were cut out. The New World, with its promise of land and fortunes for the taking, seemed ideal.

This oasis in the dry, brown hills of scrub brush and Longhorn cattle is a pleasant place with shade trees lining the broad streets - very broad streets. The roads are at least 40 feet wide. Why? The Germans knew that it's impossible to back up a team of oxen, so with typical Teutonic thoroughness, they made the streets wide enough to turn a team and wagons around. That makes driving easy for RVs. Smaller rigs can even use the angled parking spaces along the main street, while bigger rigs find convenient parking on the side streets.

The German also appreciated the need to make peace and keep it with their Amerindian neighbors. A treaty signed in 1847 between the Comanches and the settlers is perhaps the only one between whites and Indians that was never broken. Folks say it has endured because it was directly between the people affected. A statue of the meeting that led to the signing is in the town park. A re-signing ceremony was held in 1998, as a symbol of respect and a precaution against forgetting the past.

There isn't enough water in Fredericksburg to float a bass boat. It's as unlikely a spot for a naval war hero to come from as can be imagined. But Admiral Chester Nimitz was a native. The hotel where he was raised by his mother and grandfather (his father died before he was born) houses the Nimitz Museum.

The admiral did not want the museum to be a memorial to him. He requested that the center be dedicated to all who served with him in the Pacific War, and his wishes were respected.

Behind the hotel is a memorial wall. There are names: Andrew Mason Mofee; 1st Lt. Gabby Holder; Andrew Earl Harris. There are ships: USS Arkansas; USS Radford; USS Biscayne. There are battles: Guadalcanal; Sundra; South China Coast; Iwo Jima.

The wall shelters a Japanese meditation garden. Admiral Togo's meditation house is here, dismantled in Japan and carefully reassembled in the garden by the same craftsmen who built it. It's a fitting place for reflection, and one that beckons to those who fought against the U.S.

"We have many visitors from Japan," according to Helen McDonald, curator of the Nimitz Museum. "It's not someplace they just stop by to visit, either. Because we aren't near any major city, the people make an extra effort to be here. When President Clinton had the World Council meeting in Denver, the Japanese representative made one other stop in the United States, and that was here. We've had stretch limousines arrive at the front door and it'll be a lone Japanese person who goes to the garden, then leaves, and drives back to Dallas to get on a plane. It is a place that has a great deal of symbolism and meaning for those people in Japan."

The Museum of the Pacific War is adjacent to the Nimitz Museum, with the grounds of one leading to the other. Opened in June, 1999, it is a comprehensive study of the war, explaining all of the events leading up to it, from with the emergence of Japan in the 1800s to the gradual conversion of relations between the US and Japan from cautious allies into bitter enemies.

"Christmas in Hawaii is not the same for a cedar-loving Texas boy."

That homesick note was the last letter sent to his family from a sailor stationed aboard the USS Arizona. He is still entombed on the ship, a victim of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. One of the many artifacts is a hatchway door from the Arizona. The lingering stain from the oil level shows that the door was upside down when rescuers cut a hole through it, looking for survivors.

In another room, on a life-sized diorama of an aircraft carrier's flight deck, a B-25 bomber waits for takeoff, propellers spooling up as the deckhands stand poised to signal the launch.

There's another walk-through set of the camp at Guadalcanal, complete with animatronic figures discussing the war as they sit in their foxhole and rats hiding in the supplies stashed behind tents.

One of the most interesting features is the timeline on the walls. It shows what was happening in Europe and the rest of the world while the Pacific battles were being fought. On December 7, 1941, while Pearl Harbor was assaulted, the British army was relieving the besieged garrison of Tobruck in Libya.

Lyndon Baines Johnson came from these Texas hills. The LBJ ranch, the "Western White House" is only one part of the LBJ experience. While the main house is not open for tours, since Lady Bird still stays there on occasion, the house where LBJ grew up and his grandparents' farm are open. They are part of the LBJ National Site, about 15 miles east of Fredericksburg.

The visitors' center offers a comprehensive look at Johnson's upbringing and career. In separate theaters, videotaped interviews with LBJ, Lady Bird, their children, friends, and colleagues give insights into this most complex, dynamic political leader.

Before becoming president, Johnson donated his childhood home to the town as a community center. After his inauguration, the Park Service inherited the building and restored it. Rangers say that LBJ sometimes turned up and took over the tours.

Returning to town, the dusty brown hills suddenly explode with color, as though a rainbow deflated on the prairie. Large rectangles of blues and reds and yellows splash across the fields in a multicolored checkerboard. It's no mirage, but John Thomas' Wildseed Farms, the largest commercial wildflower growing operation in the country.

Thomas sells most of his crop to state highway departments that realize wildflowers are a great way to manage plant growth on median strips and verges. Visitors are invited to ramble along the pathways and rest a spell in the gazebos that overlook the plots. There's a $5 U-Pick-Em special - as many stems as can be crammed into a carry cup, and they can carry a lot!

"Love Your Enemy, but Keep Your Gun Oiled." This is the old west, and while the "Howdy" may have a German accent, the cowboy influence is very strong. Texas Jack's has everything the well-dressed, well-outfitted cowpoke needs. Under the baleful eye of a stuffed bison head, shoppers browse through racks of shirts, chaps, vests, slickers.

Manager George Baseke dresses the part, with a bandana, hat, and fitted shirt. He shows off the broad selection of pistols, revolvers, and rifles to serious shooters and curious tourists. A photo of Robert Duvall taken on the set of "Lonesome Dove" hangs on the wall behind him. The store provides props and costumes for many television shows and movies.

A few blocks away, Joe Gish tends to his Wild West Museum. It's his personal collection of relics of the west from the 1870s through the 1920s. Not just saddles and a chuck wagon, spurs and six-shooters, but posters for Wild West Shows, "Posted" signs from the Pontotoc County Cattleman's Association and the New Mexico Cattle Growers. ("Conviction for stealing livestock $250.") Photos of cowboys and actors who played cowboys in the silent movie era line the walls from floor to ceiling. The Texas Rangers hold a special place of honor.

The 75-year-old Gish started his collection when he illustrated western magazines in the 1950s. He needed things to use in sketches. It quickly got out of hand. "I got a pair of boots first, then a hat. Once you get the addiction, you never stop. You've always got to have something else."

The collection is housed in a ranch house that he built beside his home in Fredericksburg. It's open "when I'm here, and I'm almost always here."

The main street has an eclectic assortment of shops, perfect for a rambling browse through. The most authentic western accent piece at Schwetmann's Emporium is the mounted Long-horn head, ready for hanging. The tough-looking, black-and-white speckled steer is available for $1450. "A Plethora of Pepper Passions," is the promise at Salsas, while B&N Artwear sells sunsuits for toddlers in a camouflage motif. Fireplace tools, wind chimes, and branding irons are all for sale at Guadalupe Forge.

Not that there's been any sort of census taken, but it's a fair bet that Fredericksburg has more German bakeries per capita than any other town in Texas. A morning stroll is an intoxicating junket past bakeries that send tantalizing aromas wafting onto the sidewalks. Still-warm strudels, doughnuts, and muffins provide more temptation than any human can resist.

Beer gardens offer cold brews along with full menus for lunch and dinner, but there's a lot more than German fare available. "Hill Country Gourmet Cuisine," light salads at a Victorian tea room, and Tex-Mex and steaks in a saloon are all on offer within a block of each other. Just outside of the town proper is the Fredericksburg Festhaus, a year-round beer hall with a nightly Octoberfest show. Country music standards are played here, too - on the tuba.

Only in Fredericksburg.
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