The story about Siegfried and Roy in the last note came from the “ German Life ” magazine for June/July 2003. Other articles on the index page of this issue are ‘ Enchanted Blaubeuren ’, a Schwaebische Alb village, ‘ Complex Koblenz ’, the town where the Mosel and Rhein Rivers join, ‘ The Scent of First Love ’, the Europa Rosarium, the world’s largest collection of Roses, and ‘ Mr. Martin’s Guitars ’, the favorite of Gene Autry.
Siegfried states, “You could say we’ve never grown up. We still dream as children do, and we want to bring out the children in people, to encourage them to dream as they did when they were children.” The duo also stresses the importance of people seeing the magic around them and in nature. Roy stated, “All around us is magic. Just open your eyes, and you’ll see it.”
One of the stories in “ German Life ” is about German-American Destinations in the U.S. One of them was news to me, Anaheim (California), which even has a German name meaning “home by the river Ana”. A group of German immigrants purchased land and started vineyards. The Los Angeles Vineyard Society was formed. The vineyard flourished because of the irrigation and protective steps taken to protect the vineyard from wild animals. An unknown plague wiped out the vineyards in the late 1800s. The owners turned instead to developing orange groves at a time when they were novelties. They became so important that the county was named Orange County. Even today, Anaheim is the world’s largest exporting center of Valencia oranges and citrus byproducts.
The population grew four times in the years 1953 to 1955 due to the influence of Disneyland. Tourism became the biggest product of the area. The German influence had waned during WWI.
Fredericksburg in the Hill Country of Texas exudes its German heritage. The people have treasured their German ancestry, perhaps because such a large percentage of the people have some German ancestors. The town was established in 1849, against odds, by Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach (or John O. M. as he called himself here). One hundred and twenty German colonists were the nucleus. Each settler got ten acres outside the town and a lot in the town. The farmers built rest stops (Sunday Houses) on their town lots. Today many of these have been converted into bed and breakfast places (more than 300 hundred available today). Minna Engel established a trading post named Luckenbach on the family’s ten acre parcel. For years, the site was home to Schuetzenfests, Saengerfests, weddings, and reunions. The fame grew when folk humorist Hondo Crouch bought Luckenbach, population 3, in 1970. It became a refuge for musicians and free spirits.
Long Grove, Illinois; Hermann, Missouri; and Stowe, Vermont, are three more places mentioned in the article.
(25 Oct 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.