Saxon Lutheran Memorial opens 'mini-festival' Saturday in Frohna

Saxon Lutheran Memorial will mark its opening day Saturday with several special activities for the whole family.

Curator Lynda Lorenz said that opening day will be like a "mini-festival," offering a more intimate experience for visitors when compared to the harvest festival held in October.

The hours of the opening day are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 296 Saxon Memorial Drive, Frohna, Mo.

"We want people to know we're open instead of hoping people remember we're open. We're here for people to take tours and make use of our facilities," Lorenz said. Visitors and groups are welcome to tour the memorial, picnic at the pavillion, and catch and release fish at the pond. The Welcome Center is available for meetings or meals, accomodating up to 25 people.

"We are promoting the idea of a community bread oven and will make it available for use to visitors on the first Saturday of each month," Lorenz said.

Visiting the memorial is like stepping back in time, to the period when about 700 Saxon Lutherans settled in Perry County and formed early settlements of Wittenberg, Dresden, Seelitz, Frohna, Johannesberg, Paitzdorf (later changed to Uniontown) and Altenburg. The time is 1839 and tour guides and demonstrators are in period garb for 1839 to make it easy to slip back to the days when these settlers traveled by ship from Bremen, Germany, through New Orleans and up the river to St. Louis. That's where they stayed until land was purchased and they could embark to communities of their own that freed them from the Saxon state church.

The cabins they lived in and the surrounding shops they depended on for community services were preserved and have been open as a historic site since 1974. The memorial to these early settlers has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Buildings added to the site help recreate what life was like in the early 19th century, including a community bake oven, a blacksmith and a woodworking shop.

The Saxon Lutheran Memorial is closed Mondays. The site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays from March to November.

Tour groups should make advance arrangements by writing to Saxon Lutheran Memorial, Frohna, Mo., 63748, or by calling 573-824-5404.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133