As far as we know, in 1847 Henry Eckhard, his wife Anna Elizabeth and their five children left their town of Lüneburg, then part of the Kingdom of Hannover and got on a ship in the city of Bremen headed for a new life in America landing in Baltimore. Last Saturday, Joe and I took a three hour train journey to Lüneburg, the first time since 1847 an ancestor of Henry had returned to the city.
The city has a population of about 70,000 but it felt like a small town as the Alt Stadt or Old Town is the focal point of the city and was all we had time to visit. Luckily, it remained mostly unscathed by the bombings in WWII so much of its 13th-15th century buildings remain.
As we entered the town, I was struck firstly by the beauty of the Ilmenau river that flows through it, shaded by weeping willows and other trees.
Our first stop was in St Johannis church which was built in the 1300's and was stunningly beautiful. It is possible that our ancestors worshiped, married and were baptized in this, the largest church in the city.
It was a good deal of emotion and a sense of pride that we entered and walked around the Alt Stadt taking in one of the most beautiful and well preserved old town centers I have seen in Germany.
We went to the gorgeous Rathaus, the current city hall which is where the friendly tourist information office is located. From there we strolled the old town center and made our way to the main beer brew pub in the town.
The brew pub is only 10 years old, but the building was centuries old and again I couldn't help thinking that our ancestors might have drank in this very building. So, with that in mind, Joe and I hoisted our steins of locally brewed bier and toasted the Eckhards!
A leisurely walk towards the end of the Alt Stadt was capped again by the sheer beauty of the buildings we gawked at and a double scoop of some of the best gelato ice cream I have had in Germany. Then it was back on the train for the trip back to Berlin.
It was a great experience and one that I was very happy to have shared with Joe as we both had visited the village in Sicily where Mom's father and his family came from as well.
There are many unanswered question about our German ancestors so Kusi and I plan to visit Lüneburg to do research at their extensive records archive to try to find more definitive information on the Eckhards of Lüneburg. Until then...
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