"V" for Vereins-Kirche

 

The building of Vereins-Kirche (Society Church) is the unofficial symbol of the town. It was the very first local church, built in 1847 by the settlers who came from Europe to the Fredericksburg area. The church was shared for worship services by all the local religious groups and was the school building as well.

Originally, the top of the roof was decorated with a rooster-shaped weather vane,  which was replaced with a cross when the lightning (in 1862) destroyed the prior installation.

The time seriously damaged the earliest wooden structure of the building. In 1934, the newly organized Gillespie County Historical Society decided to reconstruct the building. Among others, the construction was given new stone walls (instead of the wooden ones) - the restoration works took 2 years.

Since then, the old church building was used by the City Council for various purposes. Nowadays, it is part of the Pioneer Museum and a well-known and liked town landmark.

 Recently, the cloudy sky has brought a bit lower temperatures and relief from the summer heat.

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"My Texas Alphabet" is quite a personal summary of our hitherto life in Texas. More series entries here.

One of my latest creations - Vereins-Kirche inspired hand painted T shirt.