Nassau

Nassau Farm, founded in 1843, was on the William Jack league in northeast Fayette County near Round Top. The plantation was owned by the Adelsverein, a society organized by German noblemen to promote immigration to Texas. Representatives of the society, Count Joseph of Boos-Waldeck and Count Victor of Leiningen, purchased the undeveloped league from Robert Mills on January 9, 1843, for seventy-five cents per acre. A working plantation was developed and named for Duke Adolph of Nassau, protector of the society. Boos-Waldeck purchased slaves and supplies in New Orleans, Galveston, and Houston. The slaves constructed a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, hay barn, stables, kitchen, quarters for themselves, and a house for the overseer. Fields were cultivated and planted at various times in corn, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, and tobacco. Cattle and hogs were raised for the use of the plantation and for sale. A high oak-covered hill one-quarter mile from the farm was selected as the site for the manor house. For practical and economic reasons the German carpenters built in the regional style. The two-story log house with dogtrot had porches on both sides, stone fireplaces at each gable end, and glass panes in four downstairs windows. In May 1845 the German geologist Ferdinand von Roemer reported that the house was "one of the best constructed and most comfortable" he had seen in Texas, that 420 acres were fenced and under cultivation, and that the farm had nineteen slaves, one family of whom worked as house servants.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.