los nogales museum

Built in 1849 for a German immigrant, using adobe, which was unknown in Germany, of course. The adobe bricks were made from caliche (a kind of gravelly clay deposit) that was dug out to create a basement for the structure constructed above it. For many years it was believed that Mexicans from nearby San Antonio had done the work. Yet the Census of 1850 counted 350 African-American slaves, and adobe is a common building material in Africa. But no record was left of who actually did the work, so feel free to speculate.The pioneer house known as Los Nogales was saved from destruction and restored by the Seguin Conservation Society in 1952. In later years, other structures were rescued and moved here to Live Oak St. @ South River St. Each one has a story: a log cabin was built by an Irishman who then returned to his homeland during the Great Famine and brought back about 20 relatives who lived in (and around, under, nearby?) the one-room cabin, which was soon expanded to two rooms. A child's playhouse was built by a skilled cabinet maker for an adopted daughter who arrived on an orphan train from NYC. A wheeled calaboose with barred windows hauled prisoners to work on country roads and in cotton fields.Today the glory of the collection is the Oldest Church, built in time for a statewide conference of Methodists in 1849. Of course, other Texas congregations had put up their first churches earlier. But apparently those others have all been lost to fire and flood and dreaded "progress" -- destroyed to make way for newer, larger, better buildings that took their places. So now this handsome little building claims to be "the Oldest Still Surviving Protestant Church" in all of Texas.Call the Seguin Convention & Tourism Bureau to arrange for a guide and an indoor tour, or just nose around outside if you only have time for a short visit.