While we are driving from Gresten to Plankenbichl, I will explain a confusing factor. The farm name is technically Plankenbichl, but the people who lived on this farm in 1600 were the Plankenbuehlers. The letters " bichl " are derived from the old Germanic word for " hill ". The letters " buehler " are derived from the more modern word for " hill ". The suggestion is that the farm had been in existence for some time before 1600, and that the family who lived there had taken their name from the farm.
Plankenbichl sits on a ridge, and the land around the farm house and attached barn fall to lower ground on three sides. On the fourth side the ridge runs up to higher ground. On our arrival in the late afternoon we found the couple who presently occupy the farm were home. With the aid of Florian Berger, we carried on some conversation. I had wanted to see the inside of the house but they owners never volunteered and I certainly would not impose on them. The old house has been modernized to some extent. (Florian could even show us that in 1930 the house had a thatch roof.) There was one large structure, the old house, the barn, and a new set of apartments which were not totally finished yet.
This was in the month of May, and the first crop of hay was being harvested on the hillsides. Most of the crops were being cut by a tractor propelled mowers, but the scythe was used to cut the grass in the corners and in other hard to reach places. The activity was labor intensive and the family said that we could come the next day and take pictures, but that they would not have time to show us anything.
Florian then took us to Pletzenberg, another farm. We could see it from Plankenbichl at a distance of about one-half mile a little higher in hills. To get to it, we had to drive down from Plankenbichl and then up to Pletzenberg. One branch of the Plankenbuehlers lived here in the mid-1600s. (Whether Pletzenberg was taken from the original land for Plankenbichl is unknown.) The physical situation at Pletzenberg is similar to Plankenbichl, as both sit on the points of ridges. Both have a house and connecting barn along the top of the ridge. The current owner of Pletzenberg, a bachelor, could speak some English. He was remodeling the old house to create an apartment for rent. He also said we could back the next day for picture taking.
As Florian took us back into town, he said that he would try to get the Mayor of Gresten Land to have breakfast with us. Sure enough, the next morning Hans Karner and the high school teacher of English arrived at our Gasthaus and we had breakfast and a long conversation. Hans was not surprised at all that I had German roots which led back to Austria. He told us that 600 citizens of Gresten had emigrated to Germany at the end of The Thirty Years' War.
(22 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.