I should have been an archaeologist. I love walking around areas other people have forgotten and envisioning what must have happened there – births, deaths, proposals, parties, fights. Recently, we visited Monument Hill/Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites, where you can imagine all that and more at the site of a soldiers’ tomb as well as possibly the first commercial beer brewery in the state.
The park is located off Route 77 in La Grange, about an hour and a half southwest from central Austin. Although the park isn’t that expansive – there are the historic sites and about 2 miles total of trails – it’s definitely worth visiting because of the area’s history.
For a slideshow of photographs of the Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery Sites, click here.
The trail along the historic sites first takes you to Monument Hill, where there is a tribute to victims of an event during Texas Republic times. Against orders, more than 300 soldiers marched in the winter of 1842 to the border town of Ciudad Mier, in the hopes of avenging those who died at the Dawson Massacre. Two hundred fifty of those 300 were captured; 181 escaped, but not accustomed to the harsh desert conditions of Mexico, 176 of the escapees surrendered.
Gen. Santa Anna originally ordered all 176 surrendered prisoners executed, but thanks to diplomatic pleas from the United States and Great Britain, a compromise was reached that became known as the Black Bean Death Lottery. A pot contained 159 white beans and 17 black beans; if a prisoner drew a white bean, he survived, but if he drew a black bean, he was executed on the spot.
Five years later, a Texas Ranger and one of the survivors exhumed the bodies of those executed and brought them to La Grange, the home of the only officer executed at the Black Bean Incident. There, they reburied the soldiers and erected a tomb to honor them. The present granite vault and 48-foot-tall monument were added in the 1930s.
The monument is quite impressive, but the real breath-taker here is the view from the bluff on which the monument and tomb sit. From here, you can see the Colorado River, patches of farmland and the town of La Grange. It’s a beautiful view, and we’re not the first to notice it. Back in the second half of the 19th Century, Heinrich Kreische used to throw parties and shooting exhibitions on this bluff. He also cared for the soldiers’ tomb.
Kreische was one of thousands of German immigrants who came to Central Texas in the mid-19th Century. He purchased 172 acres of land surrounding the tomb, married Josepha Appelt and went on to have six children, none of whom married (weird, right?). The rest of the historic site is dedicated to this man’s exploits, which are quite impressive.
Kreische was a master stonemason, and the handiwork you can see on his large home and beer brewery show it. The house is just a short walk past the monument, on the right. It sits on another section of the bluff, with the rear of the house absorbing the view and the front of the house facing the land’s interior. It’s a beautiful three-story ranch house that is in remarkable shape, considering it hasn’t been inhabited in decades. The front of the house faces the land’s 
barn and smokehouse, both of which are interesting.
From near the house, you can go to an overlook point that will give you an aerial view of Kreische’s brewery, built in the 1860s. However, there is also a path that leads down to the brewery, and I highly recommend it. It’s a bit steep, but nothing that can’t be handled, and it’ll lead to a much closer and more impressive view of the brewery.
In addition to being a master stone worker, Kreische also seems to have been an engineering wiz. He used gravity to pull water from a creek flowing near the brewery through the nine-step brewing process. By 1879, Kreische Brewery, producing “Bluff Beer,” was the third largest brewing operation in Texas. Unfortunately, the 1880s brought modernization in the brewing industry as well as Kreische’s death, after he fell from a wagon. The brewery has been dormant since.
After spending quite some time studying each structure and marveling at the stone work, we hiked most of the trails around the park. The land is pretty, but the highlights are truly the historic sites. It’s hard to imagine the tenacity and knowledge of a man able to accomplish so much in a country that didn’t even speak his language.
