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Little Town of Gruene - A Joyful Happening

April 13th, 2008 9:11 PM

Gruene Market Days - Stroll and Shop for Products Made Only by Vendors in an Historic, Beautiful Setting between San Antonio and Austin, Texas

1641 Hunter Road, New Braunfels, Texas

Gruene is on the National Register of Historic Places

The old grist mill, now a popular restaurant

Market Days in Gruene are held on the third full weekend of the month, from February through November, and on the first weekend of December. Market day opens at 10 AM and closes at 5.

Gruene Market Days are special in that all products are made by the vendors themselves. Admission is free, and you're bound to be charmed by the ambience of this little community.

Old Gruene, "Gently resisting change since 1872," is very conveniently located just off I-35, between Austin and San Antonio, and is a pleasant drive of nineteen miles from Wimberley, Texas. Old Gruene is a must-visit destination, another great reason to plan a trip to Gruene Market Days.

Gruene was originally the settlement site of Ernst Gruene, a German immigrant. He raised cotton, which became the cash crop that made the settlement viable. Victorian and timber-framed architecture executed with the craftsmanship learned through German apprenticeship is beautifully maintained today and worth a trip in itself.

So much to see here.

The little town languished with the encroachment of the depression and the boll weevil, and may well have fallen into the ruin and oblivion, awaiting development as just another bedroom community. Then Pat Molak purchased Gruene Hall in 1975, making only the changes necessary to maintain it as a 6,000 square foot, open-air dance hall and the center of Gruene's rebirth. Since then, too much good music to recount has wafted over the old mill, the riverside, and the beautifully maintained little streets and parkways.

After revitalizing Gruene Hall, Molak and a friend, Mary Jane Nalley, began a rescue project involving the purchase and repair of neighboring structures, now used by thriving businesses. Today, Gruene has been added to the National Register of Historic Places and attracts visitors year round.

An old grist mill is a popular restaurant, hanging over the Guadalupe River with views to remember, both inside and outside. And Gruene Hall rocks on!

Gruene Hall, 6,000 square feet of music and dancing.

Posted by Michelle Mathis on April 13th, 2008 9:11 PMPost a Comment (0)