If you want to take a stroll through a quaint German town, you might assume that you’d have to book a flight to Europe. While Germany has plenty of historic towns and villages that are definitely worth visiting (like Germany’s oldest city full of UNESCO sites), you don’t need a passport to get a similar experience.
Much like Leavenworth, Washington – another German mountain town on the West Coast – the town of Frankenmuth in Michigan is home to a Bavarian-style alpine village. So, if you’re looking to get a taste of authentic German culture and food, you need to look no further than this early mission colony in the Midwest. Tucked on the inside of the “glove” of Michigan (directly south of Saginaw Bay), Frankenmuth is like a portal to a whole new world.
What separates Frankenmuth from other Alpine villages in the U.S. is that its roots actually go back to Bavaria. In fact, “Franken” refers to the Franconia province in the Kingdom of Bavaria, and the German word “muth” translates to courage. Therefore, the town’s name means “the courage of the Franconians.” And that indomitable spirit continues to this day.
How Frankenmuth became Michigan’s Little Bavaria
The story of Frankenmuth’s founding and success dates back to the 1840s. A German missionary named Frederick Wyneken wrote to the Lutheran church in Bavaria, highlighting the struggles of being a settler in the American Midwest without German churches and teachers available…