Our Story
Behrends Family Homestead vacation rentals are your home away from home in Fredericksburg TX. We offer four distinct vacation rentals, nestled between wineries, on nearly 10-acres of historic farmland. Each unit features a fireplace, hotub, private covered courtyard with a firepit, ultra comfy beds with high-thread count linens and more.
The history of our property dates back to 1853, during the great wave of German immigration. Each guesthouse is themed after a family member who spent time cultivating the land and shaping it into what it is today.
Reservations are available through Cozi Vacation Rentals. We can't wait to host you!
Howdy. My name is Jake, and I grew up here.
My family has lived on the Behrends Family Homestead for generations, farming and ranching the land all around the property. I attended Stonewall Elementary just a few miles down the road. And long before that, my family rode horses to neighboring historic schoolhouses, some of which you can still visit today.
When I lived on the Behrends Family Homestead, my family sold organic fruits and vegetables alongside Highway 290. In the 1980s, we became suppliers for the first Whole Foods, which was located in Austin. However, the history of our land goes back much further—all the way to the great wave of German immigration.
It all started in Germany.
The story of our property dates back to 1853 when a young man named Christian H. Behrends boarded a ship, the Friedrich Grosse, in Bremen, Germany, heading for the “promised land” right here in Texas. From October 1845 to April 1846 alone, 36 ships landed at Texas beaches, bringing more than 5,000 German settlers.
Each adult paid $120 for passage to Texas and a promise of 40 acres of farmland in return. This influx of settlers later became known as the great wave of German immigration, and its legacy is reflected today in Fredericksburg’s German heritage, customs, cuisine and culture.
Oswald Behrends — who is one of Christian’s grandsons and is also my great-grandfather — is the original settler of our property.
At age 23, Oswald lived in a tent for two years while he cleared the surrounding fields and homesite with the help of several Mexican nationals.
THE OSWALD
Oswald built our family home in 1914 and raised his three children here with his wife, Alma.
My grandfather Elgin, Oswald’s oldest son, was raised here, and so was I. A native German speaker, Oswald loved to hunt, fish and play dominos. He also played clarinet in the Fredericksburg Band.
In order to communicate with his helpers from Mexico, Oswald learned to speak Spanish really well. Then, as the English language spread throughout the region, he became fluent in all three languages.
Cotton was the first crop Oswald grew on the homestead. In order to finance his farming, my great-grandfather took out loans from family members as well as the bank and was soon able to build the four-bedroom house we have today.
The house was expanded over time, and you can still discern the original structure from the additions by looking at the building materials. The oldest part of the house is built with cement bricks that my great-grandfather poured one-by-one into a brick mold, giving the house its characteristic design. Additions to the house were finished with tin siding that matched the brick. The stairs leading to the second story have been—including the most recent remodel—in four different locations since I’ve known the house.
THE CORA
For Cora—my grandmother and wife of Elgin Behrends—children and family always came first.
She loved to quilt, cook, paint and play with her kids: Judy and Melvin. In fact, while my grandfather tended the fields, she taught Judy and Melvin how to ride bikes, throw a baseball and swim. She was a hard worker who raised chickens, did the laundry with a scrubboard and a clothesline, and kept the house in order for years without the luxury of electricity.
I will always think of the one-bedroom Cora as “the granary.” Elgin would farm the surrounding land and then convey the grain into long rows of bins that lined the interior of the building.
After decades of use, the structure was converted into a storage area exactly the way one half of it still remains today. When my parents opened a compost-and-landscaping materials business, they turned the other side of the granary into an office. Later, it was converted into a guest room, and it has since been revamped into a large one-bedroom vacation rental.
THE JUDY
Judy was the best mother in the world to me and my two brothers, Bert and Ross.
She was a school teacher of art and home economics and an excellent cook. Her chicken enchiladas and chile relleno were legendary within my family, not to mention the German rice she would prepare for our dessert.
My mom—like her father, Elgin, who was a local musician— loved the two-step, the waltz and music in general. I have fond memories of dancing the two-step with my mom in the kitchen while she cooked. Like most Germans in the area, she knew the value of hard work and was often found in the garden irrigating, weeding and picking the produce that helped build the farm that’s around today.
Fun Fact: My mom and her brother, Melvin, spoke only German at home until they learned English at Grape Creek Elementary. It was a one-room schoolhouse located next to where Grape Creek Vineyards is located today.
THE MELVIN
My Uncle Melvin, like me, started working on the family farm at a very young age.
He even manned the family tractor at age five! Through graduation from Fredericksburg High School, he helped the family by fixing fences, assisting with cattle, driving tractors and baling hay, among other odd jobs. Melvin served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War and spent time on military bases in Germany, England and Alaska. After leaving the armed forces, he settled in Austin and had two girls: Melanie and Allison.
Eventually, Melvin retraced his roots and made his home in the Hill Country once again. Here, he continued to work as a cattle rancher in Johnson City and as the head of maintenance at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site. To this day, Melvin is an avid outdoorsman and lover of nature, fishing and hunting. He is also a conservationist with a ranch home that runs entirely on rainwater.
Danke Schön.
Wow—you’ve made it all the way to the end. I’m impressed!
Thanks for your interest in my family’s history and our love for the land. We hope to host you soon at Behrends Family Homestead so you can start making some lasting memories of your own.