there is something extraordinarily weird about how you'll be driving through a seemingly relatively normal US state and suddenly there's this patch where everyone apparently thinks theyre in Bavaria or something, even fuckin Frankfurt doesnt have this many German restaurants lined up side by side
Texas has at least two. Pflugerville- they lay really heavily into that Pf thing.
Fredericksburg- where Stephen Austin settled a bunch of German immigrants back in the day.
There are pockets throughout the hill country.
Growing up in Michigan, Frankenmuth takes the title.
I was being given a tour of Huntsville, AL once and my host referred to an area as “Germantown”, I innocently asked why so many Germans were there & was told “they came after the war”. Then I remembered that NASA is headquartered there…
One interesting consequence of the Americans not landing on the moon first in “For All Mankind” is that the US government stops giving cover to Wernher von Braun, so he’s raked over the coals in court and in the media about his Nazi past, and is persona non grata afterwards.
It’s illegal to pick tulips there (they line the streets), and they have a little motel with a pool shaped like a Dutch wooden shoe and the sign outside says “wooden shoe like to stay here?”
It all sounds wholesome until one realizes that Betsy DeVos lives there and they invented the WWJD bracelet
It’s weird bc my mom’s brother was from Eastern MI and eventually ended up in Holland bc he was a plastic surgeon whose work took him there (that’s where the rich people are) and the speed at which he became a racist bully Christian was astonishing.
He was always quiet and not obvious about it until during the pandemic he made some kind of post about how COVID is God’s judgment and I responded, are you aware that COVID is disproportionately affecting people of color, and now knowing that, what is your response?
I love finding cute little places like this! Not just German, but any heritage. I think some are a deliberate choice - Amana Colonies, Solvang, etc that want to keep their heritage. Some unfortunately have roots in racism - like Chinatowns, Locke, CA, etc.
I can’t speak to that phenomenon, but in NJ, some towns have specific purveyors of Really Good German Foodstuffs. This is aside from the PA Dutch farmers markets (which are generally run by Amish/Mennonite folks). But one of NJ’s charms is that one can get all kinds of “ethnic” food there.
i love the fact that in my semi-rural town in Mercer County the convenience store is now run by Gujaritis. Get the Nanwich, it's *fabulous*. You can also get Beef Barbacoa & Rice at lunchtime, & ofc top-notch egg, cheese, & pork roll sandwiches for breakfast
This area in Texas is so large and so old that it has its own unique dialect. Over one in eight people in the area still speak German as their first language. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_G...
