Fascinating Fredericksburg!

maryloudriedger

February 23

The Fredericksburg Library was built in 1882 and originally served as a courthouse for the town

Fredericksburg Texas is an historic town settled in 1846 by immigrants from Germany and named after King Frederick of Prussia.

It's just an hour or so north of San Antonio in Texas hill country. We set off to explore it one afternoon with our friends Bruno and Carolyn.

This German sign in a store window in Fredericksburg says they have 'great stuff for you and your home.'

Old-time German residents still sometimes refer to Fredericksburg as Fritztown a nickname given to the community in the past. The German influence of the early settlers is still clearly evident.

I had to take a photo of this sign because my mother's maiden name was Schmidt and I used it for the surname of a character in my novel Lost on the Prairie.

We arrived in Fredericksburg around noon so lunch was our first order of business. We found a great little place called the Sozial House.

We enjoyed good food and good conversation on the sunny patio.

Then it was off for some antique browsing in a local gallery.

There was a rifle sitting on an antique bed that was selling for close to a thousand dollars.

Carolyn was interested in these Victorian pickle castors which were quite a fad between 1860 and 1890. They were a kind of status symbol and used to serve pickles to guests at elegant meals. These three were selling for $350 each.

As the President of a Winnipeg Beer Club Dave had to check out this fancy beer stein.

I was drawn to this interesting painting by Nidia D'Alessandro, a well-known artist. It was selling for $2700. I was intrigued by the way she had painted the petals on the flowers.

Bruno wasn't interested in antiques and played with the gallery owner's dog while the rest of us poked around.

There are some 80 wineries in the Fredericksburg area. We decided to visit Perspective Cellars to taste some of the local wines.

It was a charming place with different rooms to choose from for your wine tasting.

We settled on the music room which had a fun vibe, a grand piano and some interesting art on the walls.

We decided to try a flight of Texas whites and a flight of Texas reds. Our sommelier was the nicest young man who had worked in Texas vineyards in the past and provided us with lots of great information about the rapidly expanding Texas wine scene.

Something interesting about the house where the Perspective Cellars was located was that it had been the birthplace of Chester W. Nimitz who was the commander in chief of the American Pacific fleet during World War II.

Perhaps because Chester Nimitz is a native son of Fredericksburg there is a museum in town dedicated to telling the story of the American involvement in the Pacific war theatre.