Built in the German style of the early 1800’s. During the pre-Civil War, pre- railroad years when most of Austin’s structures were made of wood.
This general store and the one the Bertram’s owned on the north side of the city are not only similar in design, they are 2 of only a handful of 1850’s and 1860’s structures still standing in Austin. The building design allowed the family to live on the 2nd floor while the general store occupied the 1st floor. The Bertram family utilized the whole block which included a well, windmill, stable, kitchen and servant Quarters. Germans were a festive bunch and though no documentation has been found I would guess that they had a “beer garten” just like other German business owners such as the Reissig and Shultz (Shultz Beer Garden).
John is a prep cook at the restaurant.
He is the 1st to arrive and open the door, which is usually around 3pm because the restaurant is only opened for dinner. On this afternoon as he walked through the door and turned to close it when he heard what he described as a party taking place on the 2nd floor. He could hear many voices and they were all were talking together, as though at a party. Everyone was having a good time every now and then there was laughter and glasses clinking. ‘My first thought was that the owners were there with some friends.’ As John walked towards the bottom of the steps the sounds became clearer and he began to ascend the staircase and at about ¾ of the way up the voices quieted to a murmur and as he put his foot on the top step all sound ceased completely. Rounding the banister to look into the room he saw that no one was there. As the hair on the back of his neck stood up he searched the whole building and confirmed, no one else was in the building.
The 2nd story of this building has 2 large rooms for private events and 2 small rooms that serve as offices.
The festive phantoms would be heard again by a waitress one-day while she was sitting alone in the office before the restaurant opened. Linda suddenly heard the sound of many voices drifting through the closest room, originating from the doorway from the neighboring room. She heard laughing, talking and the sounds of dishes as if there was a dinner party taking place. Curious because the restaurant had not opened yet and as far as she knew there were no scheduled events that evening she walked toward the sound. There is one door that leads to the other side of the building from where the offices are located. As she walked towards the door she noticed that no lights were on in the room. Halfway towards her destination all the voices slowly quieted and became silent. There was no one in the room.
Another reoccurring inexplicable sound is that of singing.
On 2 separate occasions by 2 different people a lady has been heard singing. Melissa, the restaurant manager, escorted the last guests out of the restaurant and then the remaining staff locking the door behind them. She then went up the stairs to retrieve her purse from the office. Suddenly she heard the sound of a woman singing on the 1st floor. Frightened Melissa quickly closed and locked the office door and called for help. Hours later, long after the singing had stopped, she finally found the courage to leave the building. The next singing spook was once again active in the light of day before the restaurant opened to the public. I have not yet mentioned that this building has a cellar in addition to the 1st and 2nd floors. As the waitress crossed the length of the room to gather more glasses to set the tables she heard a woman singing. The sound was originating from the cellar and as she looked at the darkened cellar stair well the voice became louder as if it were moving up the steps. Terrified and aware of the whispered rumors that the building was haunted, she ran from the building.
