Malakopf Mountain Traditional Cache
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Size: 
(small)
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A secret view for you to discover, even most locals are not aware of this monument.
In 1881 a group of Boerne Valley friends and relatives of Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff met on the mountain east of town to dedicate a 12 ft. rock monument to Dr. Herff, for his many contributions to the development of the Boerne community. Dr. Herff was a visionary physician and surgeon and was instrumental in the building of St. Mary's Sanitarium in Boerne, as an adjunct to Santa Rosa Hospital of San Antonio. His medical innovations made him a prominent physician in the Southwest. He also gave several miles of right of way to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad when it came through in 1887.
"After seventy years of weather exposure and vandalism, the original rock obelisk had deteriorated to the extent that doctors John B. and Ferdinand Peter Herff, grandsons of Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff, had it completely rebuilt with limestone blocks in 1952."- [quoted from Garland Perry, "Our Heritage" series.] Among the newspapers and locomotive pictures that were hermetically sealed in the monument vault, the grandsons also included a bottle of Lone Star Beer which they thought their grandfather would have enjoyed.
A Texas state historical marker is also at the site of the monument. The wording follows:
Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff
(Nov. 29, 1820 - May 18, 1912) The son of a prominent German family and a veteran of the Prussian Army, physician Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff first came to Texas in 1847. By the 1860s he had set up practice in San Antonio, where he was an active civic leader. His medical innovations made him a prominent physician in the Southwest. Dr. Herff and his wife Mathilde (1823-1910) owned a ranch at this site and, through their interest in the area, led in the development of Boerne. Local residents honored their many contributions with a monument here on Malakopf Mountain, a site favored by the Herffs. (1982)
Malakopf Mountain is on a privately owned ranch and is not accessible to the public.
You will be able to see the monument clearly from these coordinates along the roadside, but a pair of field glasses will enhance your view. With the sun shining on it, the obelisk seems to glow with a white light. A pretty neat little thrill.
Hwy.474 is a busy road during the morning and evening drive times - Take Care! Park in the wide ROW under the big shade tree and walk back across the drainage to the fence line. Look slightly left and up to see the monument on the mountain.
Take Adler Road off 46 or Blanco Rd off Main Street to 474.
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