Texas Cultural Diversity - German Immigrants and The Texas Hill Country.

Texas is not only one of the most beautiful states in the North Americas, it is also one of the most culturally diverse states in all of North America. One of the most beautiful parts of this large and diverse state is the Texas Hill Country, and the Texas Hill Country is a place filled with the descendants of the immigrants from Germany that came here and settled the region long ago.

Texas German is it's own official dialect of the German Language. I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet that though there are other pockets of distinct American dialects of European tongues in the USA - that there are probably more of such in Texas, and that because of the absolute uniqueness that Texas has for everything, that the Texas dialects of old wold languages are more distinct than are dialects of old world languages in other parts of the United States of America. Altogether the Lone Star State of Texas has over 82,000 residents that speak the German language. It's not clear how many of those speak the distinct Texas German Dialect.

German immigrants to the United States of America were the single largest group of immigrants to North America during the nineteenth century, and whether you know this, or not, German is the single largest ethnic group still in the United States of America. Germany may look like a small place on the map of Europe when compared to the USA, but it is a very varied nation with many different types of persons living within it. Before Otto Von Bismark had united Germany - it was a place with a common language and many different leaders. Basically, the German immigrants from one region of Germany may only have had the German language in common with the German immigrants from another part of Germany.

Although there were German immigrants in Texas when Texas was still under Spanish rule the first true German settlements in Texas began in Austin County when Friedrich Diercks settled in Industry, Texas. Friedrich Diercks is also known as Friedrich Ernst, and is credited as being the Father Of German Immigration To Texas. Basically, what happened next was that Friedrich wrote home to Germany with a long letter overflowing with positives for the open land and the possibilities that were presented in the Texas Hill Country, and the poor, oppressed, beaten down, and ready to leave of Germany boarded ships and set sail.

These first immigrants settled in Austin, Colorado, Fayette, and Washington counties. Among the communities in that area considered German towns were Mill Creek, Biegel, La Grange, Fayetteville, Cat Spring, Bellville, Frelsburg, New Ulm, Bernardo, Shelby, Ross Prairie, Millheim, Shiner, West, New Braunfels, Luckenbach, Gruene, Fredericksburg, Groesbeck, Boerne, Schulenburg, Weimar, Muenster Of those German Texas towns I've only ever lived in Groesbeck. I must say that my eight man cell with the bars around it, however, was perhaps the least good place for one to absorb much of the German culture there. I was, however, at times spending time with the descendants of the German immigrants from all over Texas - I suppose it's how you look at it..

The Texas Hill Country is the great American Secret. It's the most beautiful place in all of North America - is my opinion. It's got everything in the world except for me in it. It's less populated than you might think, has plenty of land for everyone to hunt and fish, garden and farm on - some fair sized cities, and all the isolation that one could hope for. There are rolling hills and dead drop off valleys, the rivers are not polluted and the air smells clean. You can hike and enjoy all the beauty of nature, and there are many vacation spots throughout this central Texas region.

If you are interested in visiting the beautiful Texas Hill Country - then the link to the right will give you all the travel and tourist type information that you could ever wish to ask for or know about. It's full of beautiful pictures, cabins for rent, RV park information, maps, and every single last thing you could want to know about for visiting the Hill Country from out of state, or from out of the USA.

Literally, I could sit here all day and upload beautiful pictures of the scenic wonders of the Texas Hill Country. Have you seen the Texas Commercial trucks rolling down the freeways where you live? If so, have you seen the DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS stickers on them, or maybe you've seen that on their licence plates? We Texans are proud of Texas, and we mean every word of that. So come visit, but do not litter.