The 34th Annual Deutsch Country Days at the Historic Luxenhaus Farm is this coming Saturday & Sunday
October 17 & 18, 2015 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Located at 18055 State Highway O (just 3 Miles N.E. of Marthasville, Missouri 63357) this living history festival is one of the premier German events in Missouri. Thousands visit this annual 
event, with their families, to share in the rich history of the Luxenhaus farm. Demonstrators fill the hillside with every craft imaginable, as the smell of the wood fire in the cabins mixes with the delicious GERMAN food served in the Essen Haus. Only here can you learn candledipping, ropemaking and spinning while you visit with talented craftspeople that love sharing their craft. Hear the whistle as it releases steam in the sawmill, see the mules turn the mill in the sourghum press, or watch as cooking on an early wood stove is demonstrated. This is an event for the entire family, and a demonstration of history that you will never forget. (And a photographer’s dream!) The beautiful hillside comes alive just once a year! Don’t miss your chance to visit Deutsch Country Days. For ticket and more info see http://www.deutschcountrydays.org/
Bob and Lois Hostkoetter share the history of Deutsch Country Days on their website:
Just thirty-four years ago, Luxenhaus Farm was a rocky wooded hillside, typical of the Warren County, MO countryside in the mid-1800′s. Twenty-one log and wood-siding primitive restored structures plus the “ERIC SLOANE COVERED BRIDGE” now dot the acreage, thanks to the foresight of the owner’s family, friends and new neighbors.
Of country roots, the family elected to somehow preserve their German Heritage for future generations to understand our pioneer forefather’s way of life. First was the “ERIC SLOANE COVERED BRIDGE,” constructed from circa 1818 siding–the Louisiana Purchase era. The Bridge was dedicated on July 4, 1976, our Bicentennial, to “Eric Sloane,” (Edvard Heinreich), the late-greatly remembered Americana artist and author of such well-known titles as “American Barns and Covered Bridges,” “Early American Tools,” “Our Vanishing Landscape” and many more collectable books; many are available in the “General Mercantile” during the Deutsch Country Days historic event.
Mr. Sloane signed several of his books brought from the owners’ collection, gifting an unpublished new work (at the time) titled “The Sound of Bells!” It is now available at book stores and online. ALL of Mr. Sloane’s historic library are indeed a delight for children and adults – filed with early American history and nostalgia!
The second log structure to be reconstructed was the six-room dog-trot log home, “THE HUBER HAUS,” originally constructed in 1830 in Perryville, Missouri by German immigrant Andrew Huber and his family. The family included his wife, three children and one mother-in-law who just arrived from Germany several months prior to the construction; perhaps the motivation for the expedited housing expansion!
Then followed the eighteen Missouri log structures from Gasconade, St. Charles, St. Louis and Warren Counties — all originally built from 1800- 1860. These buildings became “LUXENHAUS FARM,” Platt Deutsch (Low German) for “log house farm.”
The derivation of
the name, “Luxenhaus,” was derived in 1978 from a local, elderly, original Marthasville resident who was still speaking fluent Platt Deutsch. Cannot locate any of these ancestors in “High German,” or Hoch Deutsch, was translated to “BARENHAUS.” That simply did not relate to anyone close, as that description was of the exquisite estate and mansion of the Augustus Bush Family in St. Louis. Thus the authentically-named Marthasville, Missouri farm as in 1850 was“LUXENHAUS,” meaning “Log House Farm.”
The farm, along with the Deutsch Country Days Historic demonstrations and exhibits, has been featured in numerous national magazines, publications and films throughout the years.
Missouri Germans Consortium 
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