Document text
January 1„,),
uottaslf vollzer, Louisa Ammo ,4141Lond
imebmond vollmer (wait.)
Valhalla, N. C.
Vineyardista
Adyleen 6. kerrak, riter
rv..rop, rt,itther.
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Louise -,411.4 1..4).1 Valle/Aar
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iriodrich 44amidt
A winding road leads upward from to. highea, at Valkyria
to the Lietaidte little sous* as We elope at Chieftain Mow.
tains. A vineyard of 21 sores surrounds it, mod is early
amtumn the air is sweat from ttlo winepress sad tos vines.
?rites winery has bwoomo famo,a, and sometime* to sells
small lots of grapos to Laeistont visitors. Me doesn't'
like to do taut. a* Ca nursos his treasured blask ,Amburla
joalously for tae wino baisauos af their rim, flavor sad rick
rod (Dolor, but no is an amiablo man nut given to arguwont.
.to vinsiari crowds almost to t‘el door of his toot cottage
sod only a vary small specs IA, saved Cur triode* little
garden in twit douryard. skier* one -MA laid out patter -Ls in
field iitOne a2 florist* to aa4.4. t.la cottage a picture from
an olt.: fair/ Lt•le. Liown We sountains rows of vines -.4csr.d
in tikly rt,Inke.
Ita ..,ohkidte Mole received rival papers fur .Aime tcan
Tuoy Immo from 4ermany in 1424.
'frit* was born in Vturabarg in 1884. 81* father, for
whom be ems nsmod. was prosperous merebant. 7riada is
January 13, 1939
Ernst Gotthelf Vollmer, Louisa Emma Rebmond
Vollmer, Johannea Rebmond Vollmer (white)
Valhalla, N. C.
Vineyardists
Adyleen G. Merrick, writer
Mary R. Northrop, reviser
A winding road leads upward from the ileekomiffid.t highway
at Valkyrie to the Schmidt/0 little house on the slopt of
Chieftain Mountain. A vineyard of twee4gwamewacres surrounds
it, and in early autumn the air is sweet from the winepress
and the vines. Fritz's winery has become famous, and. some-
times he sells small lots of grapes to insistent visitors.
a4
He doesn't like to do that, tor he nurses his treasured
Black Hamburgs jealously for the wine because of their fine
flavor and rich red color, but he is an amiable man not given
to argument.
The vineyard crowds almost to the door of his neat
cottage and only a very smAll space is saved for Frieda's
little garden in the dooryard, where she has laid out patterns
in field stone and flowers to make the cottage a picture
from an old fairy tale. Down the mountain rows of vines
descend in tidy ranks.
The Schmidts have received final papers for American
citizenship. They came from Germany in 1924.
Fritz was born in Wurzburg in 1884. His father, for
whom he was named, was a prosperous merchant. Frieda is
nine years younger than her husband and was
when
Friedrich, their only child, was born during the first year
of the World War in Frieda's native village on the edge of
the Black Forest.
When Fritz returned from the War he found his family
broken up and their money gone. He could not find work and
his wife and child, were hungry. Friends in the United States
wrote of fine vinelands in the Thermal Belt of North Carolina
and urged him to join them there. He made arrangements through
a German emigration agency to finance the trip and left the
Black Forest, as he thinks nowt forever. Neither he nor Frieda
knew a word of English.
Arriving in 44Adomliommakow North Carolina, the little
homesick bewildered family were sponsored. by Dr. Johannes
von Hoff, an established vineyardist who was also an instruct-
or in Romance Languages in theldighi4chool of a nearby town.
Friedrich was sent to school there and made the trip
daily with Dr. von Hoff. The first few weeks were weeks of
terror. The children flocked around him shouting, "Talk,
Dutchie, talk! Say something in German!" Backed against the
schoolhouse wall at recess, ringed in by grinning faces, he
babbled in German —anything that came into his head --to please
the children. His answers in class were slow and stumbling
as he fumbled with unfamiliar words, and he cringed when
the class shouted with laughter. But his sweet nature and
A
engaging smile won him f ands. He quickly learned English
A
and was intelligent in all his schoolwork.
Frieda studied too, but Fritz found the new tongue
agsrw'seo--
hard to master and even now lapses into German in am, fge ite-
ment or emotion. The two of them, unlike Friedrich, were
miserably homesick for the fatherland. Their dream, was to
save enough for a long visit to their old home. Unlike most
German girls of the prr period, Frieda had inherited land
?and the settlement of that
instead of receiving a
property was the supposed reason, or excuse, for the visit.
Frieda was oppressed by all the newness about her. She
missed the cobbled square where housewives baked in the com-
munity oven and gossiped and chattered in her own familiar
tongue. She longed for the comf rting stability and sense
of permanence about the fiftIxI century houses of her own
village.
After a few years working for Dr. von. Hoff, Fritz had
saved enough for the journey, but, to their great surprise,
they no longer wanted to go. The money would buy five acres
of land on the mountainide, five fertile acres well/suited
to grape -growing. Fritz had been looking at that land and
thinking. It would be a start for himself in the work he
loved. He worried about approaching Frieda with the plan to
buy, when for years she had been longing to return to
Germany. But Frieda was delighted with the thought of
starting out for themselves.
"Buy land now, Fritz," she said, "and go back later."
He cleared the land and put it into a vineyard. He
rooted cuttings sent him from Germany, where the originals
had coma from Capri. He thinks these were the first Black
Hamburg vines planted in the United States. From the beginn-
ing the vines flourished, and now he uses nothing else for
his wine.
Frieda says they chose that strip along the mountain—
side for their home not only because the land was fertile
and had the right exposure for growing grapes, but because
it was a "dreamy -looking place," and the little stream fall-
ing down the hillside made them think of the old country.
They built a cottage in the shelter of the mountain. It was
small and pretty and they loved it. They were doing well.
Then came the fire. They do not know how it started. In
the falling dusk Frieda stood stricken, holding the sobbing
Friedrichl weeping and watching the little house go up in
flames. She thought of the family treasures and prized new
possessions burning before her eyes, and it seemed as if the
last ties with the old life were being destroyed as well as
hope for the new. Fritz too was weeping. The loss of his
violin seemed to hurt him most.
Neighbors saw the glow and hurried over to save what
they could)but it was very little. The fire had spread too
quickly.
Fritz moved the salvage into the packing shed and the
garage. He agreed to let Frieda and the boy go to tiss neigh-
bork for temporary shelter, but he refused to move from the
smoking foundation throughout the night. Thera were many
offers of assistance. Fritz was moved and grateful but he
refused them all.
"Vs done it vunst. ye do it again," he said.
Next day he started making a new home of the well-built
shed and garage, while they lived in a rented house. Fritz's
industry and thrift had won him a good reputation and it was
not hard to get a loan to start over.
The new cottage is set on a rise overlooking their land.
The long flight of stone steps that make the walkway lead
through Frieda's rock garden to the hooded door opening into
a large L-shaped room. There are casement windows and a
great fireplace. On the ledge of stone forming the mantel
rests a concave black candelabrum holding:nine yellow candles,
flanked by two yellow -and -black bowls filled with sweet
potatoes now hidden by the leafy, hanging vines they have
sprouted.
The furniture is good. Easy chairs and a sofa are cover-
ed in harmonizing colors. There is a beautiful old desk and
a highly polished table or two. The other end of the L is
the dining alcove, with built-in wall cabinets, drop-leaf
table, and chairs. A handsome old chest of drawers with a
mirror above it stands near the arch of the entrance. The
dining table is decorated with a bowl of foliaga,and casement
windows are gay with plants in brightly colored pottery. A
swing -door opens into a kitchen with spotless, shining modern
equipment. Frieda no longer regrets the community oven in
her German village.
Upstairs are two bedrooms and a bath. Old-fashioned
dormer windows are set in the mansard roof. That was ad-
mittedly a sentimental touch, to remind them. of the houses
in their German village. There is an inset deep in the roof
and the aide of the house to accommodate a great tree they
could not bear to cut down only because it stood a few feet
in their way.
Behind the house are the new packing shed and garage.
Running -along the lane to the winery is a stone wall made
beautiful with flowers, vines, and shrubs. On the hill to
one side, the winery is built over the mountain stream for
natural refrigeration. Nbeiskienperamirapemaimmasiatoomerigia
:::==mimaalb*
mlaapeoplimmidermirmitwass. Here the grapes are put into the
winepress and the juice stored for fermentation.
Fritz is nurseryman and landscape architect as well as
vineyardist. The edges of his land are bordered with a variety
of plants and shrubs for sale, his specialty being those
used in rock gardens. When the town near which he lives
voted land and funds for a municipal park, Fritz donated
his services both as architect and planter. The result
shows his natural skill, for he had no specialized training.
Since his first success Fritz has planned that Friedrich
should become his partner and successor. But his son now
has the American idea of planning his own life. He has gone
to work as an operator in a hosiery mill, meaning to learn
the business by starting at the bottom. It is a blow to
Fritz. Relations are strained between the father and son.
But Frieda only smiles and says, Wait aadt see, time makes
things smoothIl*
She is immensely proud of the land, the vineyard, the
house, and the winery, and of the man who earned and built
them. Her most visionary dreams have been realized. She
and Fritz no longer have any desire to return to Germany for
even a visit. Their families are scattered and Frieda's
property long ago was sold to strangers. The country is in
a condition they do not want to see. Frieda still cooks
German dishesVritz still lapses into German when excite
though Friedrich speaks with only a trace of accent, Fritz's
and Frieda's speech marks them unmistakably as German born.
But their sympathies and allegiance are American. They are
proud that it is so.