Books by
Michael Barr
Order Here: |
|
Looking up at
Cross Mountain
Photo
by Michael Barr, August 2018 |
Quite
a few Texas hills have crosses on top, but few of those places can
match the history and the legend of Cross Mountain just north of Fredericksburg.
Cross Mountain was a landmark for travelers long before the first
German settlers came into the Pedernales River Valley.
The Pinta Trail was an old Indian path
that guided Spanish missionaries and soldiers from San
Antonio to the San
Saba mission and presidio near present-day Menard
in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The path was not clearly
marked, so missionaries planted crosses on hilltops along the way
to guide travelers. |
Cross Mountain
from a distance
Photo
by Michael Barr, August 2018 |
The trail generally
ran from San Antonio
through present-day Boerne
and Sisterdale.
After crossing West Sister Creek, the trail continued to the northwest
crossing the Pedernales
River near the future town of Fredericksburg.
John
Christian Durst, whose family came to the Texas
Hill Country from Germany in 1847, received a land grant consisting
of a town lot and 10 acres of grazing land just north of Fredericksburg.
His land grant included a chalky hill where he found the decomposed
wood fragments of an old Spanish cross.
When Father George Menzel arrived in Fredericksburg
in the summer of 1848, he planted a new wooden cross on the hill.
The place has been called Kruezberg, Cross Mountain in English,
ever since. |
Fredericksburg
Texas as seen from Cross Mountain
Photo
by Michael Barr, August 2018 |
Looking out
from the summit of Cross Mountain I can't help but feel I'm standing
on a place of some importance. According to legend Native Americans
used the hill to signal each other at the approach of intruders. Spanish
missionaries held religious services here for Native Americans, Spanish
soldiers, adventurers and other travelers on the Pinta
Trail. Early German settlers used the hill as a lookout.
From the top of Cross Mountain I can see for miles. To the south and
east the entire village of Fredericksburg
is at my feet, while to the north and west I see every possible route
into town. No other hill in the area has such a commanding view or
preferred location. |
The nature trail
marker at Cross Mountain
Photo
by Michael Barr, August 2018 |
The earliest
settlers of Fredericksburg
quarried rock at Cross Mountain. The rock, mostly limestone, is called
"weichen stein," soft stone in English. It is easier to quarry
than the hard rock in the surrounding hills.
Stone masons used limestone blocks quarried at Cross Mountain to build
the Friederich Kiehne House at 405 W. Main in Fredericksburg
- one of the earliest rock houses in Gillespie
County.
If you climb Cross Mountain today you can still see the ledge where
workers quarried the rock. Generations of young people carved their
initials in that limestone ledge.
Cross Mountain is covered in cedar, oak, mesquite, prickly pear and
grasses of many varieties. Just about every plant native to the Texas
Hill Country grows on its chalky slopes.
Hubert Nixon, long time science teacher at Fredericksburg High School,
used Cross Mountain as a science classroom. Mr. Nixon taught his students
the names of over 100 plants that grow there - from ash juniper to
Tickle Tongue.
Over the years various organizations made improvements at Cross Mountain.
In 1921, on the Diamond Jubilee of St. Mary's Parish, the church replaced
the old wooden cross with one made of reinforced concrete. |
 |
The cross
Photo
by Michael Barr, August 2018 |
At the suggestion
of Fredericksburg
lawyer Arthur Stehling, city officials ran electricity to Cross Mountain
and illuminated the cross in time for the 1946 Fredericksburg Centennial
celebration.
In 1952, the Gillespie County Historical Society bought the 14 acre
site to preserve it as an historical landmark.
In 1963 the Army Reserve built a winding road to the top of Cross
Mountain.
In 1977 the Texas Historical Commission erected an historical marker
at the foot of Cross Mountain. Descendants of John Christian Durst
took part in the dedication ceremony. |
Christian Durst
Marker on top of Cross Mountain
Photo
by Michael Barr, August 2018 |
The Entrance
sign at Cross Mountain
Photo
by Michael Barr, August 2018 |
Each year at
Easter a large fire pops and sizzles on top of Cross Mountain as part
of the Easter Fires Pageant. The Easter sunrise services sometimes
held there are breezy and beautiful. The view is spectacular.
The footprints of history are all over Cross Mountain. The Fredericksburg
Standard once described it as an "Ageless Sentinel Over the City."
|
© Michael
Barr
"Hindsights" September
1, 2018 Column
Sources:
"Cross Mountain One of City's Early Landmarks," Fredericksburg
Standard, April 28, 1971.
"Gillespie Bicentennial Minutes," Fredericksburg Standard,
May 26, 1976.
"Cross Mountain Ageless Sentinel Over the City," Fredericksburg
Standard, July 30, 1975. |
|
|
HOME
