The Burrer Home

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the Burrer Home in Gillespie County. Gottlieb Burrer was born in Germany in 1830, and by 1854 he had made his way to this stretch of Texas Hill Country. He put down roots here, and he married Katharina Zammert, the daughter of a pioneer Fredericksburg family.

Katharina was born in 1843, and she would outlive Gottlieb by many years, she passed in 1931, he in 1916. Together they built something meant to last. In the 1860s, they raised a two-story stone residence right here.

Stone. Two stories. In the Hill Country in the 1860s, that was a statement.

The interior had woodburning stoves for heat, and up on that second floor, one undivided sleeping area, no walls parceling off the night, just the whole family under one open roof. Gottlieb and Katharina had nine children. Nine.

Now, the marker doesn't name most of them, but one son, Otto, he later came back and made this house his home too. That's the kind of place it was, the kind that pulls people back. Decades rolled by, and in the 1950s, additions were made to the home.

The stone walls were still standing, still worth building onto. That says everything about how Gottlieb Burrer built in the first place.

What the marker says

German native Gottlieb Burrer (1830-1916) migrated to this area in 1854. Here he married Katharina (Zammert) (1843-1931), the daughter of a pioneer Fredericksburg family. They built this two-story stone residence in the 1860s. The interior originally included an undivided sleeping area on the second floor and was heated by woodburning stoves. One of the nine Burrer children, Otto, later lived here. Additions to the home were made during the 1950s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980