La Grange, Oldenburg and Round Top

Three small towns within miles of each other and they have at least  one thing in common. They are German communities right here in Texas.

La Grange was the first stop this morning. The old brick buildings lining the street in the town square still showed the old German family names implanted in the brick store fronts.

The courthouse sitting in the middle of the town square was a blend of old world and new world architecture. The gargoyles centered above each door spoke of the ones seen on castles in Europe. The arched door ways with the key stone embedded in the rough hew stone that made up part of this building bespoke more European influence. Part of the building was made up of rough hew blocks of stone while interspersed with smooth polished stone.  Dental short walls decorated the tops of this courthouse. In relief on the smooth stone blocks was a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables.

Inside, the floors were diagonal shapes of black and white marble, doors and windows heavily adorned in dark wood facings and moldings. The center of this building was a miniature clear glass covered courtyard with a fountain in the center and benches along the walls. The ceiling in the main part of this building was white embossed tin and at least 15ft away. Arched windows and beautiful stairs with elaborate wood banisters led to the second floor.

There was a Veterans Memorial to the side with plaques noting the Veterans of WWI and WWII and 95 per cent of these veterans were Germans. Strange it must have been for these men to go back to their homelands to fight as enemies their ancestors.





As you walk in the front door, this is directly in front of you. Down 4 steps into the solarium with the glass ceiling.



And into the Solarium

The view from the street:





As we walked down the street, the smell of wood smoke filled the air. Prouse's Meat Market sat at the end of the block. The mesquite was smoking the meat and as we stepped inside, the smell of roasted meat caused the taste buds to stir. Some brisket and sausage was ordered. We took our plates to the courthouse lawn and sat on metal benches in the sun and had lunch.

Next town was Oldenburg and the only place we stopped was to read the memorial plaque beside the road. It told of the immigrants, the shops that were once in this area but now long gone.

Round Top was just up the road. Population 77.

Once monthly, this town hosts antique sales and fields and fields of tents were set up. Now empty, but awaiting their once a month vendors  that show up from all over the United States to offer their collections.



The whole town was surrounded by tents.

Driving around town, I took some pictures of a few of the old buildings that were preserved from an earlier time.





And The END

The grave markers closet to the road were of children born in the 1800's. Rows and rows of small grave sites of children who had died at birth or who had not lived many years. Again, the names on the head stones were of German origin.

An interesting day of site seeing; history is always interesting.

I'm done and gone. It's nap time!