Rocky Creek Farm
Round Top, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Original one-story house was built about 1854 for settler James Wade; situated then on the former Nassau Farm, a vast tract intended for settlement by German immigrants. Count Boos-Waldeck, an agent for the Adelsverein (German Emigration Society), purchased the land but another area was colonized instead. In 1894 Rudolph Weigelt of Germany bought the farm and in 1913 erected present house, which encloses the original one. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The original one-story house here was built around 1854 for settler James Wade on land that had been the Nassau Farm, a tract the German Emigration Society (Adelsverein) acquired through its agent Count Boos-Waldeck for planned immigrant colonization—though the society ultimately settled its colonists elsewhere. In 1894 Rudolph Weigelt, newly arrived from Germany, bought the farm, and in 1913 he built the present house right around the original, enclosing the older structure within it.
Why it matters
Rocky Creek Farm is a tangible relic of the great German migration to the Texas Hill Country, one of the largest organized European colonization efforts in 19th-century America.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Wade
- · Count Boos-Waldeck
- · Rudolph Weigelt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bernard Scherrer
Round Top, TX
Bernard Scherrer left his native Switzerland at 22, wandering for years before reaching Texas in 1833, and fought in Burleson's regiment during the Texas Revolution. Granted land but settling in the Biegel community of Fayette County around 1838, he served as justice of the peace and county commissioner, married in 1845, and later took up arms again for the Confederacy in the Civil War. This cabin, his first Texas home, was relocated here in 1975.
The Menn House
Round Top, TX
Standing near Winedale in the German-settled hills of Fayette County, this house was likely built by Samuel K. Lewis, a former congressman of the Republic of Texas. In the 1860s it became home to William and Carolina Menn and their twelve children; the Menn family bought it in 1880 and their descendants lived here until 1931. It was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1973.
Round Top Community
Round Top, TX
This Fayette County community was home to a remarkable cluster of Texas founders — veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto, one of the men who captured Santa Anna, the Republic of Texas's first postmaster general, and a boy taken captive on the Mier Expedition. By mid-century it had also become a vibrant center of German immigrant culture, from plantation life and craftsmanship to schools, churches, and a handmade pipe organ. Its stagecoach inn and stone masonry still echo that heritage.
Schueddemagen Home
Round Top, TX
Built in 1852, this home was modeled on the Saxony house of its builder, immigrant Carl Siegismunde Bauer, and raised for his daughter and her husband, Conrad Schueddemagen. Its steep roof and two-foot native limestone walls, plastered inside and out, along with cedar ceilings, floors, and mantels, reflect the Old World building traditions the German settlers carried to Central Texas.