DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker on Nassau Plantation tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture this: 1843, and somebody with vision — and money — purchases 4,428 acres of Fayette County land for one grand purpose: to serve as a home for German emigrants making their way to a new life in Texas. They named it Nassau Plantation, after Duke Adolf of Nassau, the protector of the emigration society backing the whole venture.
And for a time, Nassau was considered one of the show places of Texas. Let that sink in. One of the show places of Texas.
That's not nothing. That's a reputation. That's curtains in the windows and guests worth impressing.
Speaking of windows — this was the frontier, mind you — the main dwelling on the plantation was built of oak, two stories high, and it had two glass windows. Two. Glass.
Windows. Out there in the brush country of Fayette County, that was the kind of detail people remembered. Cotton grew on those lands, and the place had the bones to be something truly significant.
Here's where the story takes its first turn. The organization behind all of this was called the Adelsverein — the German Emigration Society — and their commissioner general was a man by the name of Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. Now, Nassau sat close to non-German settlements, and the prince had a concern.
A serious one. He feared that if his colonists stopped here, too near to outside influences, they would lose their distinctive national culture. So despite the fact that 4,428 acres could have made a fine half-way station for colonists on that long journey west, Prince Carl rejected that use entirely.
Nassau would not become the colony it was purchased to be. And yet — and here's where it gets rich — the prince didn't exactly abandon the place. No, he came to Nassau for horse racing.
He held feasts there. Feasts, the marker tells us, costing thousands of dollars. Thousands.
While the emigration movement was grinding through its trying periods, the commissioner general was enjoying himself at the show place of Texas. His successor as commissioner, John O. Meusebach, did eventually come to Nassau as well — though the marker notes, with what I can only read as a certain pointed understatement, that Meusebach came for less extravagant entertainment.
The Adelsverein, for all its grand ambitions, did not hold together forever. By 1848, bankrupt, the society sold Nassau Plantation. The dream of a grand German colonial waystation, the feasts, the horse races, the glass windows gleaming on the frontier — all of it passed into other hands.
Nassau was divided into small farms. And those farms were cultivated by the descendants of the very German pioneers the whole venture had been meant to serve in the first place. They got here eventually.
Just not the way anyone planned.
What the marker says
An extensive tract of land purchased in 1843 for colonization by German emigrants. Named for Duke Adolf of Nassau, protector of the emigration society, it was once one of the show places of Texas. Although the 4,428 acres could have been a good half-way station for German colonists on the long journey to western lands, this use was rejected by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, the commissioner general of the "Adelsverein", or German Emigration Society. He feared that the site, which was close to non-German settlements, would cause his people to lose their distinctive national culture. Though never colonized, Nassau became a welcome place for relaxation during trying periods of the emigration movement. Here the prince enjoyed horse racing and held feasts costing thousands of dollars. His successor as commissioner, John O. Meusebach, came to Nassau for less extravagant entertainment. The main dwelling on the plantation was built of oak, two stories high. Even in frontier days it had two glass windows. Cotton was grown on the lands. In 1848 the bankrupt Adelsverein sold Nassau. It was later divided into small farms, cultivated by descendants of the original German pioneers.