Texas Romantic Getaway: Comfort
Recommended for: antiques shopping, B&B, history

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Ready to relax? Then think “gemuetlichkeit.” Or just think Comfort. Northwest of San Antonio on I-10, Comfort is a community with strong German roots and ties to earlier generations. Settlers first planned to name the town “Gemuetlichkeit,” meaning peace, serenity, comfort and happiness. Fortunately, they settled on the easier-to-pronounce “Comfort.”

Today “comfort” perfectly describes the atmosphere of this Hill Country community. The streets here are as busy today as they were a century ago, when customers would come in to the local establishments for kerosene, oil, and washboards. The only difference is that today many of these historic structures house antique shops, restaurants, and bed-and-breakfast inns instead of the feed, dry goods, and grocery stores of a century past. The downtown historic district boasts 120 buildings. One of Texas’s oldest general stores, the 1880 Ingenhuett Store (830 High St., 830-995-2149), is still open for business, featuring a collection of historic photos of Comfort’s early days.

Other popular shopping spots include the Comfort Common (717 High St., 830-995-3030). Wander among the historic buildings to find the town’s largest collection of antiques including primitives and furniture.
Antiques lovers should also stop by Marktplatz (7th and Main St., 830-995-2000). This large antique store offers two floors of furniture, collectibles, quilts, and crafts, all housed in an 1883 building.

One of Comfort’s most unusual structures is a mile out of town on FM 473. A bat roost, built in 1918, was constructed here in an attempt to control malaria. The roosts were intended to encourage the area’s large bat population to remain in the region and feed on disease-spreading mosquitoes. Sixteen such roosts were built in the country, and this is the oldest of the three still known to exist. The bat roost is located on private land, but visitors can pull off the road and read the historic marker located behind private gates.

If you’re a bat lover, stop by the Bat Tunnel (15 miles northeast of Comfort off TX 473 on old Hwy. 9, 830-995-3131; free). From May until October, view the evening flight of 1.2 million Mexican free-tailed bats from this abandoned railroad tunnel now managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Although today the atmosphere defines Comfort, at one time things were far from comfortable. This town suffered a massacre of many of its citizens, an event called “the blackest day in the history of the Civil War.”

Comfort was first settled in 1854 by German immigrants who were followers of the “Freethinker” philosophy. These settlers felt an intense loyalty to their new country and its commitment to democracy and freedom of religion. Things went well in the new land until the Civil War broke out and Texas began to talk of seceding from the Union. The German immigrants strongly opposed secession, and some farmers openly backed the Union government, an act that the Confederates considered treasonous. Finally martial law was declared, and the Texas Rangers were sent to order all males over 16 to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. When many refused, farms and homes were burned, and some dissidents were lynched. Some accounts say as many as 150 citizens were killed.

With these mounting troubles and threats to their families, a group of Comfort men decided to leave Texas and head to Mexico to wait out the war. A band of 60 left on August 1, 1862. They did not know that the Confederates had been told of their move by an informant. The Unionists were followed to the banks of the Nueces River before the attack began. When it was over, 19 Comfort citizens had been killed in battle. Nine others were captured, but they were later executed by the leader of the Confederates. Later, eight other Unionists were killed while crossing the Rio Grande near the Devil’s River, their bodies left unburied until the end of the war.

It wasn’t until three years later that the remains were returned and buried in a mass grave in Comfort. The next year, on August 10, 1866, the first monument in Texas was erected at the gravesite to remember this grim battle. The Treue der Union (or “True to the Union”) Monument (High St. between 3rd and 4th Sts.; free) was a simple obelisk, inscribed with the name of the men who were killed. Outside of national cemeteries, this remains the only monument to the Union erected in a state south of the Mason-Dixon line.

This monument, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is also noteworthy for another unusual feature. In 1991, the Treue der Union Monument became one of only five sites in the nation where the flag is allowed to be flown at half staff at all times. The flag flown here is the 36-star American flag, the one flown at the dedication of the monument over 125 years ago.

Short and Sweet

Getting There:
Comfort is located 52 miles northwest of San Antonio on I-10.

Nearby Attractions:
In the tiny community of Sisterdale, visit Sister Creek Vineyards (FM 1376 off FM 473, 830-324-6704). This winery thrives in a restored cotton gin and produces traditional French wines. On weekdays, stop by for an afternoon tour.

Love Nest:
Just down the street from the general store, the Ingenhuett family once owned the Ingenhuett-Faust Hotel. Today that historic building is the Comfort Common (717 High St., 830-995-3030; www.comfortcommon.com), a combination bed-and-breakfast inn and antique cooperative. Travelers watch small town life from rocking chairs on the wide porches of the two-story inn. Day visitors can shop for antiques in the hotel and in several outbuildings located in the shady backyard.

For More Information:
Write the Comfort Chamber of Commerce at P.O. Box 777, Comfort, TX 78013, or call (830) 995-3131, or see www.comfort-texas.com.