Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg is a great place to stay for a week or two. There are a lot of things to do in the area. Last time we visited we spent most of our time outside the town. This time we did part of a walking tour of the downtown buildings. Much of the town is built with local limestone. Many of the German immigrants were (or became) stone masons.

One of the reasons we only did part of the tour is that the tour takes you past a winery with free tastings (“that one tasted really good”) and a brewery/restaurant (“well, it is lunchtime”). Plus, there’s a candy store with fresh fudge of all types (“it’s been a couple of years since we bought fudge, so maybe a little”). Someday we’ll walk the last part of the trail.

The town isn’t very big (10,530), but the cemeteries are large. Plus there are two of them on either ends of the town. The Catholic Cemetery is the newer one, though still from the 1800’s.

The biggest (over 5,000 interments) and most interesting cemetery is called “Der Stadt Freidhof” (the city cemetery), a pioneer cemetery started in 1846. The area has both limestone and red granite. Both are used profusely for gravestones. I love the ironwork along with the red stones. There were many plots with these fences around them.

While wandering around, I took a picture of this cherub. After doing some research online, it turns out to be one of the last pieces of a sculptor named Elisabet Ney. She did busts of Kings and major composers when she lived in Europe. When she moved to Texas, she did work that is in the state capital and in several art museums.

While many cemeteries have family plots with fences around the family plot, this cemetery was laid out over time. So families weren’t necessarily buried together. The part that really surprised me was a section for children. Many children died when crossing the country and Fredericksburg was along a major route. Diseases also killed many children or they died as young babies. Children under the age of 10 (that’s the oldest I saw) were buried in a separate area. Some sites have smaller ironwork fences around them that look like cribs. Some have toys laid on the site. Unique and sad.