In the years of 2000 and 2002, we went to Gresten, Austria. In the first of these years, the trip had a note of uncertainty as to whether we would find anything. Hallie Price Garner and her husband had visited about the year 1990 and brought back pictures of the old homestead where the Plankenbuehlers had lived, but she said that the house was going to be torn down. So we were most uncertain in 2000 as to whether there would be anything to see. In fact, because of the uncertainty, we had deferred the visit to Gresten to the end in case other events took more time than we had allowed.
A distinction must be made between Gresten and Gresten Land. The former is the small town itself, and Gresten Land is separate from this, surrounding Gresten and having its own government. At first we did not know this. We started with Gresten as the focal point and we started at the police station. I guess that things are so quiet in Gresten that we couldn't rouse anyone at the station. Just across the street, was the Rathaus, or the city hall.
Already we had noticed that there were many puppets, as they called them, but which we would be more inclined to call manikins. At any rate, they were exhibits which amused and informed the observers. For example, on the balcony at the police station there was a life-sized policeman in uniform. On the balcony of the Rathaus, a man was reading from a book, probably a law book.
Ducking into the Rathaus under the Lawgiver, we asked the clerk in the office if he spoke English. He denied that he did (which is relatively rare), but pointed to another man and said that he would ask him. The other man was Florian Berger, an insurance agent, who probably was checking a property title. Florian's English was very good and he understood readily that we wanted to see the Plankenbichl farm. He saw no objection and said that he would take us there in his own car if we would wait until he finished some work.
I believe that we asked him for a housing recommendation and we quickly secured accommodations there (a couple of blocks down the street). On the way to the farm, about two miles, Florian told us that he was acquainted with the farm as his mother was born there. He knew the present occupants.
To give some picture of the geography, north of Gresten the land levels out into the valley of the Danube River. Coming into Gresten, the land becomes hillier. Gresten itself is in a small valley which is surrounded by hills. Most of the farms are now in the hills. The plow is a rare tool and the agriculture is based on the meadow. The grass is a pasture and a source of hay for cattle.
(21 Apr 05)
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.