Frank da Cruz
22 July 2006
Most recent update: 23 November 2020

Hohenecken is a small village (population about 4000) in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, about 2 miles WSW of Kaiserslautern. It was a short walk from Kapaun Kaserne in Vogelweh, where I was stationed in the Army 1963-64. Coincidentally, it's only 8 miles from Steinwenden, from where — as I discovered 50 years later — my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, the Dunker Johann Michel Müller II, had emigrated to America in 1727 with his wife Susanna Berchtol, my GGGGG-grandmother, who was from nearby Krottelbach.

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I took a few pictures of Hohenecken in the early sixties, then came back to visit in 1975 and took a few more. And recently I added some other images found on the Internet. Hohenecken was rarely frequented by American GIs, who tended to prefer the bars and night life of urban Kaiserslautern. But a small group of us spent almost all our free time in Hohenecken because it was beautiful, friendly, quiet, and the primary Gasthaus (Gasthaus zum Rathaus) was so... gemütlich. In those days we called it Opa's (Grandpa's), der Opa was the owner, die Oma did the cooking and it was some of the best food I would have, ever. When I returned in 1975, Opa had died so Oma was in charge. According to Google Maps in November 2020, Gasthaus zum Rathaus at Burgherrenstraße 99 is permanantly closed and Hohenecken has grown considerably.

Created by Photogallery 3.07 November 23, 2020