Missouri's Rhine Village

Tucked away in the Missouri River Valley, about an hour west of St. Louis, Hermann is a picturebook 19th-century village where clock towers and church steeples rise above sturdy red-brick buildings.

Hermann was founded by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia, an organization that dreamed of a New World utopia on the American frontier that would be “German in every particular.”

A band of 17 brave settlers arrived in Hermann in December of 1837. Expecting a land of milk and honey, they instead found two crude log cabins (occupied by Frenchmen no less) in a harsh wilderness. Their survival is a testament to German industry and persistence.

Finding the land nearly impossible to farm, they covered the hillsides with vineyards and began making wine, beer and spirits. They were wildly successful. In its glory days, Hermann boasted the second largest winery in the country and produced more than one million gallons of wine a year. By the turn of the century Hermann was a rollicking riverport, with a tavern on every corner and the largest general store between St. Louis and Kansas City.

Sadly, the good times did not last. Prohibition, coupled with wartime anti-German sentiment, dealt the town an economic blow from which it never fully recovered. The one saving grace of the debacle was that the town remained pristine, its 19th-century buildings untouched by post-war modernization.

Today’s Attractions

• Wineries
  Hermann wineries, which account for more than half the state’s total production, are once again winning gold medals around the world. Stone Hill Winery, which pioneered the revitalization of the Missouri wine industry in the 1960s, is the largest winery in the state. Hermannhof Winery is located on the riverfront in the former Kropp Brewery building. Adam Puchta and Oak Glenn wineries are on the outskirts of town. Bias Winery in Berger and Röbller Winery in New Haven are a 20-minute drive away.
  
  The Hermann Wine Trail meanders for some 20 scenic miles along the Missouri River between Hermann and New Haven. Wine Trail vintners sponsor a number of popular events, including the Chocolate Wine Trail in February, Hermann Norton Wine Trail the first weekend of May, Berries and BarBQ Wine Trail the last full weekend of July, Holiday Fare Wine Trail the third weekend of November and Say Cheese Wine Trail the second weekend of December.
  
  
• Festivals
  Thousands of visitors flock to Hermann’s famous festivals, most notably the Wurstfest the fourth weekend of March, Maifest the third weekend of May, the month-long Octoberfest, and Kristkinkl Markt the first two weekends of December.
  
  
• Historic District
  Hermann’s two historic districts include more than 150 buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of those buildings have found a new lease on life as antique and craft shops and galleries.
  
  
• German History & Culture
  Deutschheim State Historic Site and the German School Museum rooms tell the story of the Germans who migrated to Missouri in the 1800s.
  
  
• Amtrak
  Amtrak stops in Hermann four times a day.
  
  
• Katy Trail
  The nation’s longest rails-to-trails project has a trailhead just two miles north of Hermann. The new Missouri River bridge at Hermann has a protected bike lane that provides easy access to the trail.