I spent a lot of time many years ago all through the little towns from about Bellville, New Ulm, La Grange, Fayetteville, and on west.
They still had (and may still have) turne vereins where people held dances on the weekends - whole families came, babies and great-grandparents - and the only music on the little country radio stations was polka music.
I also spent a lot of time in New Braunfels, Groene, Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, and points west. Stopping to eat the local sausage at every smokehouse we encountered, too. There’s a sausage for every German dialect, and then some!
This thread is making me seriously homesick. The cultural varieties of the Hill Country is just one of the many things I love about the place. I’m going to have to go drink a Shiner Bock.
{{key the “London Homesick Blues...}}
Did you ever stop by Serbin? That was actually a Wendish settlement. I grew up on a farm in Manheim - about 8 miles NW of Giddings. There were nothing but German farmers in that area.