Nassau Plantation

Enslaved people worked Nassau. Count Boos-Waldeck bought slaves in New Orleans, Galveston and Houston, and they built the shops, barns, stables, kitchen, their own quarters and the overseer's house. When the geologist Ferdinand von Roemer visited in May 1845 he found 420 acres fenced and planted and nineteen slaves on the farm. The society's sale passed the league to Otto von Roeder with twenty-five slaves. In 1853 a sheriff's sale for the society's creditors sold the league for four cents an acre to James A. Chandler, who won judgment in 1868 after an appeal to the Supreme Court.

What the plaque says

Nassau Plantation 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. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 15 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.
• Texas Wendish Heritage Museum — 20 mi
  A museum at Serbin of the Wends, a Slavic people from Lusatia whose congregation of nearly 600 crossed on the Ben Nevis in 1854, losing seventy-three to cholera on the way.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 25 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.

More markers nearby

• Bernard Scherrer — 2.6 mi
• Round Top Community — 2.6 mi
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