Settled by German immigrants, New Braunfels, Texas has everything from tubing to two-stepping
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A Lone Star tuber drifts along the Comal River in New Braunfels. -
The interior of Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, looking out to the beer garden. -
Gruene Hall, the oldest continuously running dance hall in Texas, on a Saturday night. -
Toby and Amanda O'Jibway enjoy a beer in Gruene Hall. -
The 11th Street Cowboy Bar, Bandera.
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NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas -- A bottle of Lone Star beer raised in one hand and his guitar in the other, Fred Andrews, the lead singer of Honeybrowne, toasted the crowd gathered around the old wooden stage in Gruene Hall with "Here's to all the ladies."
A roar of approval went up from the hundreds of country music fans ready to kick up their heels and down some brews in the oldest continuously used dance hall in Texas. Built in 1878 by Henry Gruene (pronounced Green), a German immigrant, it is the centerpiece of historic Gruene, now part of New Braunfels, the first German settlement in Texas.
The Germans colonized what is today Texas Hill Country in the heart of the state, roughly west of Austin and north of San Antonio. It's where the strudel meets the stirrup, so to speak.
Gruene originally was called Goodwin until Mr. Gruene, a successful cotton farmer, began to build a grist mill and mercantile buildings. The mercantile is now the General Store filled with candy, toys, souvenirs and a soda fountain. His Victorian home is Gruene Mansion Inn, on the National Register of Historic Places. The old mill is a restaurant, but the saloon-dance hall remains much as it was in the 1880s.
Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road, New Braunfels, TX, 78130; www.gruenehall.com.
Wurstfest, 10-day festival in New Braunfels, runs from Nov. 4-13. Admission: $8 adults, $6 in advance; children 12 and under free. www.wurstfest.com
11th Street Cowboy Bar, 307 11th St., Bandera, TX 78003; 1-830-796-4849, www.11thstreetcowboybar.com.
Arkey Blue's Silver Dollar Bar, 308 Main St., Bandera, TX 78003; 1-830-796-8826.
OST Restaurant, 305 Main St., Bandera, TX 78003; 1-830-796-3836.
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Johnson City. Open every day except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. The National Park Visitor Center is open from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. The LBJ State Park visitor center, where LBJ Ranch tour permits are issued, is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free, but donations accepted. Visitor information: 1-830-868-7128, ext. 244; www.nps.gov/lyjo/index.htm.
To get the best look at the hall, visit during the day when it's not wall to wall two-steppers. The swinging screen doors open into a space that makes you wish you had ridden into town on a horse. Bare light bulbs, ceiling fans and worn wood floor planks patched with old Texas license plates add to the charm. Surrounding streets are filled with tourists and shoppers browsing the antiques mall, sipping samples at the Grape Vine Texas Wine Bar or stopping into the Great Texas Pecan Candy Co. for pecans prepared any way you like them; spicy, sweet, chocolate-covered or plain. Jeff King and his family have run the business for 15 years, making and packing the pecan treats themselves.
New Braunfels, founded by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, also is famous for Wurstfest. Each November, it hosts one of the country's largest German heritage festivals, which includes a contest for the best of the wurst.
Among other activities in town, water recreation abounds in the town's two rivers -- the Guadalupe and Comal -- with tubing the favorite summer pastime. There's no effort required. Plop in a tube and let the very slow Comal carry you on a lazy afternoon drift. Tube rental spots are available at several locations in town. The Prince Solms Tube Chute, which bypasses a dam, gives riders a very quick white-water thrill. Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Canyon Lake also offer respite from the summer temps that can hover near 100 degrees in the summer.
If you want to get back in the saddle again, head west to Bandera, known as "The Cowboy Capital of the World," where each week anyone with a horse is welcome to ride through town. Many of the dude ranches saddle up their guests and join residents on the ride. They generally end up at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar (the biggest little bar in Texas), which has a real hitching post for ponies and the cigar store Indian doesn't seem contrived. Named one of the 10 best cowboy bars in the country by Cowboy Magazine, it has a tiny bar festooned with bras and a big dance floor.
First Published July 10, 2011 12:00 am
