As these small Texas Hill Country museums demonstrate, you don’t have to have blockbuster shows or huge budgets to inform, educate, entertain.
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We’ll always remember The Alamo, of course, but our selection of smaller cultural organizations scattered across the region provide added insights into the Lone Star State’s rich, complex past.
Sophienburg Archives & Museum of History
New Braunfels
This remarkable museum (pictured above) showcases German immigration in the Hill Country region through a world-class permanent exhibition. Visitors will get a sense of what it was like to travel across the ocean in the 1800s and glimpse at artifacts illustrating early European settlements in New Braunfels and surrounding areas. Have a relative who might have been among the early German settlers? The archives are maintained by a friendly, helpful staff who will help you research your family’s story. Address: 401 W. Coll St., New Braunfels, TX. Telephone: 830-629-1572. For current hours, admission, and special events, see website.
Museum of Texas Handmade Furniture
New Braunfels
Almost two centuries ago thousands of German immigrants fled over-population and political turmoil at home to establish new lives in Texas. With them came talented, highly skilled craftspersons who found abundant natural resources that, when coupled with their skills and training, led to a new style of furniture—Texas Biedermeier. This intimate, charming museum keeps the story of those artists alive and their work on display. Address: 1370 Church Hill Drive. New Braunfels, TX. Telephone: 830-629-6504. For current hours, admission, and special events, see website.
Pioneer Museum
Fredericksburg
Many of those early pioneers who past through New Braunfels eventually settled in Fredericksburg, carving out a way of life in the rugged terrain alongside native people and in a harsh climate. In tribute to their efforts, the Pioneer Museum is a 3-acre facility that chronicles their efforts through exhibits and events. Address: 325 W. Main Street, Fredericksburg, TX. Telephone: 830-990-8441. For current hours, admission, and special events, see website.
Llano County Historical Museum
Llano
Situated on the banks of the Llano River in a turn-of-the-nineteenth-century drugstore and an adjacent old grocery store, this local history museum still contains the original marble soda fountain and leather fountain stools. On exhibit you’ll find all the usual items reflecting Western frontier life, from ox yokes and saddles to cash registers and typewriters. Address: 310 Bessemer (Hwy. 16), Llano, TX. Telephone: 325-247-3026. For current hours, admission, and special events, see website.
Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm
Stonewall
Although technically not a “museum,” this old family farm preserved on the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site offers visitors the closest experience to early rural Texas farmsteading imaginable. Activities vary seasonally just as they would have long ago and include planting and harvesting of the garden, sheep shearing, sausage making, and so forth. There’s the day-to-day work, too, of harvesting eggs, slopping the hogs, and milking the cows. The staff also keeps a kitchen and wash room open to the public, a reminder that the more things change, the more things stay the same. Address: 199 Park Road 52, Stonewall, TX. Telephone: 830-644-2252. For current hours, admission, and special events, see website.
