The sites provide daily access to the Kreische family home, ruins of the brewery, hiking trails, picnic grounds, and the visitor center with history exhibits. Arrangements can be made with the staff to have weddings, family reunions, or other group functions in the picnic area and/or the facilities. School field trips and group tours led by staff and volunteer docents are available with advanced scheduling.
Guided tours, living history demonstrations, and interpretive programs occur on select weekends throughout the year. For the latest program schedule, contact the visitor center, visit the sites’ social media, or review upcoming events on the events calendar.
Special Events include:
Reminiscent of a once-popular social occasion on the bluff is the traditional Easter egg hunt and bonfire held on the Saturday before Easter Sunday.
Bluff SchuetzenFest in May features live German and Texas music, historical games, a shooting gallery with a modern twist, living history activities, community booths, special tours and programs, food and drink, and more. During the event, Texas History on Tap provides guests with samples of Texas craft beers and opportunities to meet the teams behind some of Texas' most celebrated breweries.
In September, Monument Hill Remembrance is a memorial ceremony for the men buried in the tomb on Monument Hill. Costumed interpreters lay wreaths and fire gun salutes.
The sites participate in the statewide Texas Archeology Month with Archeology Day usually held on the second Saturday of October. Activities include mock excavations, mapping exercises, hands-on artifacts, tours, and other activities.
At the end of October, guests can enjoy an evening of Spooky Stories next to a bonfire. Local legends, tall tales, and scary stories of Texas and Fayette County are featured on the last Saturday of the month.
Trail of Lights is held during December on selected evenings. Visitors can experience beautifully decorated trails, live music and refreshments, photos with Santa, and holiday crafts. The highlight along the trail is the historic Kreische House with 19th-century decorations, costumed interpreters sharing German Victorian traditions, and the smokehouse yard where guests can smell sausages smoking and sample German holiday treats.
Download an activities Guide to the Natural Experience of Kreische Brewery and Monument Hill State Historic Sites
Parking
A designated parking lot, including wheelchair-accessible parking, is located next to the sites’ visitor center. The parking lot gates are locked at 5 p.m.
Accessibility
The sites visitor center and primary interpretive trail, the “Historic and Scenic Bluff Trail,” are wheelchair accessible. Wheelchair-accessible restrooms are available in the visitor center.
Facilities
Visitors may bring their own food and drinks to enjoy in the site’s picnic area. Restrooms and water fountains are available at the visitor center and in the picnic area. A small interpretive shelter is attached to the restroom facilities in the picnic area. Smoking is permitted in designated areas only.
Museum Store
A museum store is in the visitor center and offers books, magnets, postcards, imported German woodcrafts, children’s toys, and unique gifts.
Tours
Guided tours are available on most weekend afternoons, subject to staff and volunteer availability and weather conditions. Guided tours are also available for groups of 10 or more, by reservation. Interpretive tours include:
Gather Up!: A History of Meeting on the Bluff (approx. 45 min, ½ mile)
Experience an introduction to the sites, from the history of Monument Hill to the traditions and life of the Kreische family.
Roots in the Rocks: Building the Kreisches’ House and Home (approx. 45 min, ¼ mile)
Explore the rooms of the family home, built from the ground up by the enterprising Heinrich Kreische.
Frisch Auf!: HL Kreische’s Bluff Brewery (approx. 1 hr, ¾ mile)
Explore the ruins of the Kreische Brewery up close and personal while discovering how communities built breweries and breweries built community. Includes potentially difficult trail conditions like slopes and stairways.
Evolution of a Monument: Remembering the Men of the Dawson and Mier Expeditions (approx. 30 min, ¼ mile)
Learn the context around the Dawson and Mier conflicts and the story of the re-interment and memorialization of the mens’ remains on the bluff.
Area Attractions
The town of La Grange has many fine old buildings (including some that Mr. Kreische built) to tour. The courthouse square, where the third county courthouse (built by Kreische in the 1850s) was located, now features an 1890s architecturally significant courthouse building. A large monument to the heroes of the Dawson and Mier expeditions is located on the courthouse lawn. In one corner of the square is the Muster Oak, where Captain Nicholas Dawson and the men of his expedition gathered to ride to their fates at the battle at Salado Creek in San Antonio in 1842. The old Fayette County Jail is a historic stone building at 171 South Main St., one block south of the square. It currently houses the Texas Heroes Museum. This museum displays artifacts of Texans who have served in the military from the time of the Texas Revolution to the present.
Casino Hall houses the Main Street’s Visitors Center, where you can obtain information on amenities, overnight lodging, shopping, and sightseeing. Ask about the old historic cemetery and downtown tours through the Visitor's Bureau office.
La Grange is centrally located between Houston and Austin, with both only an hour to an hour and a half drive away. The communities of Round Top, Winedale, Smithville, Bastrop, and Brenham are nearby as well. They feature many museums, shopping opportunities and local eateries.. Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site is within driving distance, with a common theme of Texas Independence.
A unique Painted Churches Tour is available to the south of the sites in the countryside toward Schulenberg and Flatonia, featuring authentic 19th-century European-style churches from German, Czech, and other similar cultures. Stop by the sites’ visitors center for brochures and printed information about nearby attractions.