Good cheer and Gemütlichkeit in the Hill Country
You’ve heard of Danish hygge, or its sister noun, the Swedish lagom — untranslatable Scandi words to describe feelings of utter contentment, coziness and joy. Did you know the Germans have a word for it, too? They call it “gemütlichkeit.” We can’t pronounce it, but we can tell you where to find it in the USA: Fredericksburg, Texas.
The northwest vertex in an almost perfect triangle formed with San Antonio and Austin, Fredericksburg is a key destination in the Texas Hill Country, a region that has seen a meteoric rise in tourism in recent years. Fredericksburg’s story is quintessentially American, with a German accent and a Texas twist. It was founded by German immigrants known as “Forty-Eighters,” who fled Germany during its Revolution of 1848 in search of more democratic government, liberal ideals and better working conditions.
Welcome to Fredericksburg
Landing at Galveston, TX, they made their way inland, developing a thriving agricultural community and building Fredericksburg as an homage to German heritage and culture. The evidence remains to this day: Fredericksburg is built around a “marktplatz,” or town square, which is presided over by the “Vereins Kirche,” a tiny church that once also served as a meeting hall and school. Street signs declaring “Wilkommen” are proud reminders of Fredericksburg’s mother tongue.
But it’s the town’s surrounding landscape, tourism amenities and overall vibe that are most evocative of old Europe, and where tourists experience the cozy cordiality associated with gemütlichkeit.
“Welcome to Texas! Surprise! We have good wine!”
This enthusiastic proclamation comes from a sommelier at the tasting room at Augusta Vin, a winery south of Fredericksburg that produces and serves “Texas wines made from Texas grapes.” Didn’t know that there were Texas grapes, much less Texas wines, much less good Texas wines? You’re not alone, but the stats bear out just how ignorant you are. Texas is the 5th largest wine producer in the United States and its AVA is the second-largest in the country. Its climate and soil conspire to bear the fruit of all our favorites: rich Malbecs, Cabs, Tempranillos, Petit Sirahs (we enjoy a flight of all with a plate of charcuterie). Even stubborn Viognier can grow in these windswept, high-up hills, and it’s become one of the state’s most promising grapes.
Augusta Vin isn’t the only winery. Here in Fredericksburg there are more vineyards than you can shake a stick at, located in close proximity to each other, the better for traveling from one to the next with a glass of wine in hand. This isn’t a region that makes some wine. It’s a region that is about wine.
A tasting room experience
As we marvel at the big-sky views from our table, we are imbued with a sense of deep well-being. Is it gemütlichkeit, or the booze? Whatever this heady combination, it’s transportive. We keep reminding ourselves we’re in Texas, not Chianti or Napa, but our eyes deceive us: Fredericksburg’s terrain is not so much the desert scrub and tumbleweed of the “wild west” as it is reminiscent of southern Tuscany: fields of flowers, live oaks and rolling hills. We’re all enjoying that self-satisfied feeling of having been let in on the shared secret of an exclusive underground society.
Sunset over the winery
The Original Tiny House Movement
We meander into the beyond-charming center of town to learn a little more about the history of the place and its people. We learn that when German immigrants first arrived here in the Fredericksburg region, they settled small plots of lands in the town, along with much larger acreage outside the town for agriculture. Back in the days of horse-drawn buggies, the distance from town to farm was not easily covered, so people used their in-town land to build small houses for weekend stays. They would arrive on Saturdays for shopping and socializing, spend the night and go back to their farms after church on Sunday; thus, their small weekend houses came to be known as “Sunday Houses.” Think of them as the proto-Tiny Houses: magical little bungalows with no running water or plumbing…but with wood-burning stoves and sleeping lofts for warmth and rest. We get a sense of gemütlichkeit just imagining ourselves inside the cozy walls of a Sunday House, warming by the stove with a local Tempranillo in hand.
The Flagstone Sunday House, courtesy of Visit Fredericksburg
The Sunday Houses aren’t the only unique architectural displays in town. Fascinating residential and commercial sandstone buildings, rich in texture, show influences of colonial, Victorian and Spanish architecture; some buildings even look bona-fide Wild West. The streets are exceptionally wide; when we ask why, we are told the width was designed to accommodate a turn-around for oxen-drawn freight wagons. Wineries aren’t the only game in town. The shopping is reminiscent of Laguna Beach, CA, and other upscale, coastal destinations of similar ilk. There are jewelry shops, gift shops, designer boutiques. Coffee shops, restaurants and bakeries. There’s even a shop that specializes in honey.
Main Street
Fredericksburg’s growth is accelerating rapidly, but is admirably managed by the local zoning and planning boards. A town law mandates that Main Street’s shops cannot have more than 3 locations anywhere, which keeps the boutiques unique and the franchises out. (It’s the reason you’ll only find a Starbucks on the outskirts of town — but with numerous independent cafes in the town’s center, you won’t miss it.)
Fredericksburg’s Main Street is perhaps more quintessentially American than its European cousins. It’s vibrant, lively, welcoming. But it’s also a testament to Texas’s famously big heart.
While traveling west from the center of town on Main Street, the cross streets are Crockett, Orange, Milam, Edison, Bowie, Acorn, Cherry and Kay; the first letter from each street spells “COME BACK.” Traveling east from the center of town, the cross streets are Adams, Llano, Lincoln, Washington, Elk, Lee, Columbus, Olive, Mesquite and Eagle. The message, of course, reads “ALL WELCOME.”
Best of All Worlds
Fredericksburg — or “Fred” to the locals — percolates with the kind of fun, energetic tension that keeps the experience authentic, and doesn’t get steamrolled by the homogenization to which many popular tourism destinations fall victim. There’s Southwestern Americana mingled with European charm; recent university grads living among lifetime residents; a uniquely Texan spirit that is at once fiercely independent and endlessly welcoming. And then, of course, the sense of rugged glamor that permeates the area’s cowboy-meets-California retail and restaurant scenes.