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Halle (Saale)
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Halle is a city in the southern part of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. Halle is an economic and educational center in central-eastern Germany, the University of Halle-Wittenberg is the largest university in Saxony-Anhalt and one of the oldest universities in Germany, and a nurturing ground for the local startup ecosystem. Together with Leipzig, Halle is at the heart of the Central German Metropolitan Region, Leipzig, one of eastern Germanys other major cities, is only 35 kilometres away. Halles early history is connected with harvesting of salt, the name Halle reflects early Celtic settlement given that halen is the Brythonic word for salt. The name of the river Saale also contains the Germanic root for salt, the Latin name Hala Saxonum was also used. The town was first mentioned in AD806, according to historic documents, the city of Halle has been a member of the Hanseatic League at least since 1281. By the 1740s, Halle had established many orphanages as well as schools for the wealthy in the sober style Pietism encouraged and this Halle education was the first time the modern education system was established. The Halle Pietists were also combated poverty, the Battle of Halle was fought between French and Prussian forces on 17 October 1806. The fighting moved from the bridges on the citys west side, through the streets and market place. In 1815, Halle became part of the Prussian Province of Saxony, in Ammendorf, a large factory owned by Orgacid produced mustard gas. Near the end of World War II, there were two bombing raids carried out against the town, the first on 31 March 1945, the second a few days later. The first attack took place between the station and the citys centre, and the second bombing was in the southern district. It killed over 1,000 inhabitants and destroyed 3,600 buildings, among them, the Market Church, St. George Church, the Old Town Hall, the City Theatre, historic buildings on Bruederstrasse and on Grosse Steinstrasse, and the city cemetery. On 17 April 1945, American soldiers occupied Halle, and the red tower was set on fire by artillery, the Market Church and the Church of St. George received more hits. However, the city was spared further damage because an aerial bombardment was canceled, in July, the Americans withdrew and the city was occupied by the Red Army. After World War II, Halle served as the capital of the administrative region of Saxony-Anhalt until 1952. As a part of East Germany, it functioned as the capital of the district of Halle. When Saxony-Anhalt was re-established as a Bundesland in 1990, Magdeburg, not Halle, Halloren Chocolate Factory and visitors centre, Germanys oldest chocolate factory still in use
2.
Austin, Texas
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Austin is the capital of the U. S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. It is the 11th-most populous city in the U. S. and it is the fastest growing large city in the United States and the second most populous capital city after Phoenix, Arizona. As of the U. S. Census Bureaus July 1,2015 estimate and it is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 2,056,405 as of July 1,2016. In the 1830s, pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the Colorado River, in 1839, the site was officially chosen to replace Houston as the new capital of the Republic of Texas and was incorporated under the name Waterloo. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas and the republics first secretary of state. The city subsequently grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. After a lull in growth from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its development into a city and, by the 1980s, it emerged as a center for technology. A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin, including Amazon. com, cisco, eBay, Google, IBM, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Texas Instruments, 3M, and Whole Foods Market. Dells worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin, residents of Austin are known as Austinites. They include a mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers. The city also adopted Silicon Hills as a nickname in the 1990s due to an influx of technology. In the late 1800s, Austin was known as the City of the Violet Crown because of the glow of light across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term Violet Crown in their name, Austin is known as a clean-air city for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings, including restaurants and bars. The FBI ranked Austin as the second-safest major city in the U. S. for the year 2012, U. S. News & World Report named Austin the best place to live in the U. S. in 2017. Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of habitation since at least 9200 BC. When settlers arrived from Europe, the Tonkawa tribe inhabited the area, the Comanches and Lipan Apaches were also known to travel through the area. Spanish colonists, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area for centuries, in 1730, three missions from East Texas were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now Zilker Park, in Austin. The mission was in area for only about seven months
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German Americans
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The German American ethnic group consists of Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 46 million in 2014, German Americans are the largest of the groups reported by the US Census Bureau in its American Community Survey. The group accounts for about 1⁄3 of the total ethnic German population in the world, none of the German states had American colonies. In the 1670s the first significant groups of German immigrants arrived in the British colonies, settling primarily in New York, immigration continued in very large numbers during the 19th century, with eight million arrivals from Germany. Between 1820 and 1870 over seven and a half million German immigrants came to the United States — more than doubling the population of the country. By 2010, their population grew to 49.8 million immigrants, there is a German belt that extends all the way across the United States, from eastern Pennsylvania to the Oregon coast. The state of Pennsylvania has 3.5 million people of German ancestry and they were pulled by the attractions of land and religious freedom, and pushed out of Europe by shortages of land and religious or political oppression. Many arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, the arrivals before 1850 were mostly farmers who sought out the most productive land, where their intensive farming techniques would pay off. After 1840, many came to cities, where Germania—German-speaking districts—soon emerged, German Americans established the first kindergartens in the United States, introduced the Christmas tree tradition, and introduced popular foods such as hot dogs and hamburgers to America. The great majority of people with some German ancestry have become Americanized and hardly can be distinguished, traditional Oktoberfest celebrations and the German-American Day are popular festivities. There are major events in cities with German heritage including Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, San Antonio. The Germans included many quite distinct subgroups with differing religious and cultural values and they generally opposed womens suffrage but this was used as argument in favor of suffrage when German Americans became pariahs during World War I. The first English settlers arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and he was followed in 1608 by five glassmakers and three carpenters or house builders. The first permanent German settlement in what became the United States was Germantown, Pennsylvania, large numbers of Germans migrated from the 1680s to 1760s, with Pennsylvania the favored destination. They migrated to America for a variety of reasons, often immigrants paid for their passage by selling their labor for a period of years as indentured servants. Large sections of Pennsylvania and upstate New York attracted Germans, most were Lutheran or German Reformed, many belonged to small religious sects such as the Moravians and Mennonites. German Catholics did not arrive in number until after the War of 1812, in 1709, Protestant Germans from the Pfalz or Palatine region of Germany escaped conditions of hardship, traveling first to Rotterdam and then to London. Anne, Queen of Great Britain, helped them get to her colonies in America, the trip was long and difficult to survive because of the poor quality of food and water aboard ships and the infectious disease typhus
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Dresden Academy of Fine Arts
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The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. Apart from this magnificent building, the Academy owns the building for sculpture in Pfotenhauerstrasse, in 1764, the “Allgemeine Kunst-Academie der Malerey, Bildhauer-Kunst, Kupferstecher- und Baukunst” was founded by order of the Prince-Elector Frederick Christian. From 1768 to 1786 it was located in the Fürstenberg Palace and its first director was the Frenchmen Charles Hutin. After the death of Hutin in 1776, Johann Eleazar Zeissig, referred to as Schenau, the Academy was the successor institution of the first “Zeichen- und Malerschule” founded in 1680. It was one of the oldest academies of art in the German-speaking area, today it is one of the academies of art in Germany that are especially attractive for a degree in art due to their unmistakable profile and optimum general conditions. The students are provided with spacious studies and well equipped workshops, the reorganisation of the Academy started in 1990 offered the chance for innovative and organic development of an academy with a long and successful history and distinct traditions. Well-known artists from the world of art are teaching at the Academy. The different courses available for the study of painting and graphics as well as sculpture are very diverse, the rules for study allow for changes within and between the specialized courses and for using the courses in the best possible way for one’s own artistic ambitions and projects. The degree course of Bildende Kunst consists of 10 semesters and leads to the Diplom degree, the degree course Kunsttechnologie, Konservierung und Restaurierung von Kunst- und Kulturgut is one of the oldest and most renowned education courses on university level in Germany. The new postgraduate course Kunst-Therapie that was established just a few years ago does only exist a second time at one other art academy in Germany, after their academy studies, artists and art teachers are given attractive new chances for qualification in the artistic-social field. Currently Eberhard Bosslet teaches sculpture and concepts of space, one of its most illustrious teachers was Bernardo Bellotto, the painter of the world-famous town scapes of Dresden. At the beginning of the 19th century, painters such as Anton Graff, ernst Rietschel, Gottfried Semper and Ludwig Richter consolidated the reputation of the academy, which experienced a further zenith around the turn of the century. List of universities in Germany Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden Website of Students and Masters of the Fine Arts Department
5.
Texas Hill Country
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The Texas Hill Country is a 25-county region of Central Texas and South Texas featuring karst topography and tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite dome in the United States, the Hill Country reaches into portions of the two major metropolitan areas, especially in San Antonios northern suburbs and the western half of Travis County, ending southwest of Downtown Austin. The region is the portion of the Edwards Plateau and is bound by the Balcones Fault on the east. The terrain is punctuated by a number of limestone or granite rocks and boulders and a thin layer of topsoil. The Texas Hill Country is also home to several types of vegetation, such as various yucca, prickly pear cactus, cedar scrub. Several cities were settled at the base of the Balcones Escarpment, including Austin, San Marcos, the regions economy is one of the fastest growing in the US. The deeper caverns of the area form several aquifers which serve as a source of drinking water for the residents of the area, wonder Cave in San Marcos was formed by an earthquake along the Balcones Fault. The Guadalupe, San Antonio, Frio, Medina, and Nueces rivers originate in the Hill Country and this region is a dividing line for certain species occurrence. For example, the California Fan Palm is the species of palm tree that is native to the continental United States west of the Hill Countrys Balcones Fault. The region has hot summers, particularly in July and August, winter temperatures are sometimes as much as ten degrees cooler than in other parts of Texas to the east. For example, the accordion was popularized in Tejano music in the 19th century due to exposure to German settlers. It later re-aired when this series was hosted by Dennis Farina, the region has emerged as the center of the Texas wine industry. Three American Viticultural Areas are located in the areas, Texas Hill Country AVA, Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country AVA, the Hill Country is also known for its tourism. In 2008, The New York Times listed the Hill Country in an article about North American vacation destinations, Hill Country has also made Texas second to Florida as the most popular retirement destination in the United States. The region has attracted Baby Boomers as they near retirement age, frederick Day, a demographer with Texas State University, said that the Hill Country life-style reminds one of the small towns of the recent past. Cost of living is pretty low, to people who have spent their work life in Houston or Dallas, the Hill Country is very attractive
6.
Elbe
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The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia, then Germany and its total length is 1,094 kilometres. The Elbes major tributaries include the rivers Vltava, Saale, Havel, Mulde, Schwarze Elster, the Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 148,268 square kilometres, the fourth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries, with its largest parts in Germany, much smaller parts lie in Austria and Poland. The basin is inhabited by 24.5 million people, the Elbe rises at an elevation of about 1,400 metres in the Krkonoše on the northwest borders of the Czech Republic near Labská bouda. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, here the Elbe enters the vast vale named Polabí, and continues on southwards through Hradec Králové and then to Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west, at the village of Káraný, a little above Brandýs nad Labem, it picks up the Jizera. At Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the Vltava, or Moldau, upstream from the confluence the Vltava is in fact much longer, and has a greater discharge and a larger drainage basin. Some distance lower down, at Litoměřice, the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Ohře, in its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile marshlands, former flood plains of the Elbe now diked. At Magdeburg there is a viaduct, the Magdeburg Water Bridge, from the sluice of Geesthacht on downstream the Elbe is subject to the tides, the tidal Elbe section is called the Low Elbe. Within the city-state the Unterelbe has a number of streams, such as Dove Elbe, Gose Elbe, Köhlbrand, Northern Elbe, Reiherstieg. Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the stream by dikes. In 1390 the Gose Elbe was separated from the stream by a dike connecting the two then-islands of Kirchwerder and Neuengamme. The Dove Elbe was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort and these hydraulic engineering works were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation, and to improve the water supply of the Port of Hamburg. The Northern Elbe passes the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the old Elbe Tunnel, a bit more downstream the Low Elbes two main anabranches Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite south of Altona-Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right after both anabranches reunited the Low Elbe is passed under by the New Elbe Tunnel, the last structural road link crossing the river before the North Sea. At the bay Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg at kilometre 634, the Northern Elbe and the Southern Elbe used to reunite, leaving the city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between Holstein and the Elbe-Weser Triangle with Stade until it flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven. Near its mouth it passes the entrance to the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel before it debouches into the North Sea, the Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague
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Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
8.
May Uprising in Dresden
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The May Uprising took place in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony in 1849, it was one of the last of the series of events known as the Revolutions of 1848. In the German states, revolutions began in March 1848, starting in Berlin, to form the Assembly, near-democratic elections had taken place across the German states, the majority of the members were Saxon democrats. On 28 March 1849 the Assembly passed the first Reichsverfassung for Germany, movements sprang up across the German states to force through the new constitution but the National Assembly disintegrated. In Saxony, Frederick Augustus II had never recognised the constitution, in Württemberg the more radical elements of the National Assembly formed a rump parliament in Stuttgart, which was defeated by Prussian troops. At the same time, the people of Saxony began to react to the repression of the democratic movement — the May Uprising began, at first the Saxon town councillors attempted to persuade Frederick Augustus II to accept the constitution in public speeches. The municipal guards who should have controlled them were on their side and made an address to the King, the King was unyielding, however, and called them to order. This led to further unrest, which in turn caused the king to bring in Prussian troops, on 3 May 1849, the municipal guards were told to go home, but the town councillors organised them into defensive units to stop expected Prussian intervention. As the peoples anger grew, the government withdrew into the castle, the municipal guards were undecided whether or not to support the people, who threatened to use explosives to get the government out. In response the Saxon troops fired on the crowd, within hours the town was in chaos, with 108 barricades erected. In the early hours of 4 May 1849, the king and his ministers managed to escape, three members of the dissolved Democratic parliament now became the leaders of the revolution, Samuel Erdmann Tzschirner, Karl Gotthelf Todt and Otto Leonhard Heubner formed a provisional government. Their aim was to force the acceptance of the constitution, Tzschirner called in another member, Alexander Heinze, to organise fighting and bring in more communal guards and volunteers from outside Dresden. Reinforcements joined the revolutionaries from as far away as Chemnitz, Zwickau and Marienberg, the Saxon troops were also backed up by arriving Prussian soldiers. They planned to encircle the rebels and corner them on the Altmarkt, recent studies place the number of revolutionaries at around 3,000, compared with 5,000 government troops from Saxony and Prussia. Apart from being outnumbered, the rebels were also untrained in battle, disorganised and lacked weapons, on 9 May the majority were forced to flee. Most of the gave up, and the rest were tracked down to the Frauenkirche. The Saxon government later accused Bakunin of being the revolutionaries ringleader, Röckel also published the popular democratic newspaper Volksblätter. Richard Wagner the composer, at the time Royal Saxon Court Conductor, had been inspired by the spirit since 1848 and was befriended by Röckel. The architect Gottfried Semper was until 1849 less politically active, but had known his democratic beliefs and felt compelled to stand up for them
9.
Revolutions of 1848
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It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history. The revolutions were essentially democratic in nature, with the aim of removing the old feudal structures, the revolutionary wave began in France in February, and immediately spread to most of Europe. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no coordination or cooperation between their respective revolutionaries, the uprisings were led by shaky ad hoc coalitions of reformers, the middle classes and workers, which did not hold together for long. Tens of thousands of people were killed, and many forced into exile. Significant lasting reforms included the abolition of serfdom in Austria and Hungary, the end of monarchy in Denmark. The revolutions were most important in France, the Netherlands, the states that would make up the German Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century, Italy, and the Austrian Empire. The revolutions arose from such a variety of causes that it is difficult to view them as resulting from a coherent movement or set of social phenomena. Numerous changes had been taking place in European society throughout the first half of the 19th century, both liberal reformers and radical politicians were reshaping national governments. Technological change was revolutionizing the life of the working classes, a popular press extended political awareness, and new values and ideas such as popular liberalism, nationalism and socialism began to emerge. Some historians emphasize the serious crop failures, particularly those of 1846, that produced hardship among peasants, large swaths of the nobility were discontented with royal absolutism or near-absolutism. In 1846, there had been an uprising of Polish nobility in Austrian Galicia, additionally, an uprising by democratic forces against Prussia, planned but not actually carried out, occurred in Greater Poland. Next, the middle classes began to agitate, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, working in Brussels, had written Manifesto of the Communist Party at the request of the Communist League. Following the March insurrection in Berlin, they began agitating in Germany, the middle and working classes thus shared a desire for reform, and agreed on many of the specific aims. Their participations in the revolutions, however, differed, while much of the impetus came from the middle classes, much of the cannon fodder came from the lower. The revolts first erupted in the cities, the population in French rural areas had risen rapidly, causing many peasants to seek a living in the cities. Many in the feared and distanced themselves from the working poor. Many unskilled laborers toiled from 12 to 15 hours per day when they had work, living in squalid, traditional artisans felt the pressure of industrialization, having lost their guilds. Revolutionaries such as Karl Marx built up a following, the situation in the German states was similar
10.
Wheeling, West Virginia
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Wheeling is a city in Ohio County in the U. S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, Wheeling was originally a settlement in the British colony of Virginia and later an important city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Wheeling was the first state capital of West Virginia, due to its location along major transportation routes, including the Ohio River, National Road, and the B&O Railroad, Wheeling became a manufacturing center in the late nineteenth century. Wheeling is the city of the Wheeling, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 147,950, the origins of the name Wheeling are disputed. One of the more credible explanations is that the word comes from the Lenni-Lenape phrase wih link and this supposedly referred to a white settler who was scalped and decapitated. His severed head was displayed at the confluence of Wheeling Creek, the area had been inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years. In the 17th century, the Iroquois from present-day New York state conquered the upper Ohio Valley, pushing out other tribes and maintaining the area as their hunting ground. Originally explored by the French, Wheeling still has a lead plate remnant buried by the explorer Céloron de Blainville in 1749 at the mouth of Wheeling Creek to mark their claim, later, Christopher Gist and George Washington surveyed the land, in 1751 and 1770, respectively. During the fall of 1769, Ebenezer Zane explored the Wheeling area, other families joined the settlement, including the Shepherds, the Wetzels, and the McCollochs. In 1787, the United States gave Virginia this portion of lands west of the Appalachians, by the Northwest Ordinance that year, it established the Northwest Territory to cover other lands north of the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi River. Settlers began to move into new areas along the Ohio, in 1793, Ebenezer Zane divided the town into lots, and Wheeling was officially established as a town in 1795 by legislative enactment. The town was incorporated January 16,1805, on March 11,1836, the town of Wheeling was incorporated into the city of Wheeling. By an act of the Virginia General Assembly on December 27,1797, originally dubbed Fort Fincastle in 1774, the fort was later renamed Fort Henry in honor of Virginias American governor, Patrick Henry. In 1777, Native Americans of the Shawnee, Wyandot and Mingo tribes joined to attack settlements along the upper Ohio River. They hoped an alliance with the British would drive the settlers out of their territory. Local men, later joined by recruits from Fort Shepherd and Fort Holliday, the native force burned the surrounding cabins and destroyed livestock. During the first attack of the year, Major Samuel McColloch led a force of men from Fort Vanmetre along Short Creek to assist the besieged Fort Henry
11.
Fredericksburg, Texas
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Fredericksburg is the seat of Gillespie County, in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 10,530, Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Old-time German residents often referred to Fredericksburg as Fritztown, a nickname that is used in some businesses. The town is notable as the home of Texas German. Fredericksburg shares many characteristics with New Braunfels, which had been established by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels the previous year. Fredericksburg is the birthplace of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz and it is the sister city of Montabaur, Germany. On October 14,1970, the Fredericksburg Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in Texas, Fredericksburg is located east of the center of Gillespie County at 30°16′27″N 98°52′19″W. It is 70 miles north of San Antonio and 78 miles west of Austin. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 8.6 square miles, of which 8.6 square miles are land and 0.05 square miles. Enchanted Rock is a geographical landmark 17 miles north of Fredericksburg in Llano County, the rock is a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome that rises 425 feet above the surrounding land, has a summit elevation of 1,825 feet above sea level, and covers 640 acres. It is one of the largest batholiths in the United States, in 1994, the State of Texas opened it as Enchanted Rock State Natural Area after adding facilities. The same year, Enchanted Rock was added to the National Register of Historic Places, balanced Rock was a famous local landmark that perched atop Bear Mountain 10 mi north of Fredericksburg. The natural wonder stone pillar, about the size of a small elephant and it fell prey to vandals who dynamited it off its base in April 1986. The first known record of Cross Mountain was in 1847 by Dr. Ferdinand von Roemer, Native Americans used the location to signal each other about intrusions into their territory. The area was part of settler Dr. John Christian Dursts 10-acre allotment, durst found a timber cross on the mountain, indicating that Spanish missionaries had once used the site. Durst named the place Kreuzberg or Cross Mountain, in 1849, Father George Menzel erected a new cross. In 1946, St. Marys Catholic Church erected a metal, the mountain has been used both for the Easter Fires pageant and for Easter sunrise services. It was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 1976, the Vereins Kirche, the Pioneer Museum Complex, Pioneer Memorial Library, and other architecture
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Enchanted Rock
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Enchanted Rock is an enormous pink granite pluton batholith located in the Llano Uplift approximately 17 miles north of Fredericksburg, Texas and 24 miles south of Llano, Texas, United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, which includes Enchanted Rock and surrounding land, Enchanted Rock covers approximately 640 acres and rises approximately 425 feet above the surrounding terrain to elevation of 1,825 feet above sea level. It is the largest such pink granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, a part of the Texas state park system, includes 1,644 acres. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1936, the prominent granite dome is visible for many miles in the surrounding basin of the Llano Uplift. The weathered dome, standing above the plain is known to geologists as a monadnock. Archaeological evidence indicates human visitation at the going back at least 11,000 years. According to the book The Enchanted Rock published in 1999 by Ira Kennedy These hunter-gatherers had flint-tipped spears, fire, with these resources, some twelve thousand years ago, the first Texans became the wellspring of Plains Indian culture. On the basis of evidence, human habitation at Enchanted Rock can be traced back at least 10,000 years. Paleo-Indian projectile points, or arrowheads, 11–12,000 years old have been found in the upstream and downstream from The Rock. The oldest authenticated projectile point found within the present day park is a Plainview point type, the rock has been the subject of numerous geological surveys and paintings. Folklore of local Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock, while attempting to hide from Anglo settlers in the area, the natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock, where they were invisible from the ground below. The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536, the Tonkawa, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which attribute to the rocks night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day. The name Enchanted Rock derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore, a plaque formerly embedded in Enchanted Rock near the top, but now removed to a kiosk below, reads, From its summit in 1841, Captain John C. Hays, while surrounded by Comanche Indians who cut him off from his ranging company repulsed the whole band, vernal pools, ecologically threatened depressions of flora and fauna adapted to harsh environments, contain fragile invertebrate fairy shrimp. Other wildlife includes bats, ringtails, squirrels, and fox, a wide variety of lizards, including the Texas horned lizard also make the Enchanted Rock area their home. Park activities include caving, hiking, primitive camping, rock climbing and picnicking. The Summit Trail is the most popular hiking path, the Granite Gripper is an annual rock climbing competition that acts as a fund raiser for park conservation through the Friends of Enchanted Rock
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