Bead-Swiss Alp Sticks and Flowers Glass Rectangle TB

This trackable has the modest goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers.  That is a rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days.  As of 5-Jul-20 it had survived for 2.9 years and had been moved by 10 cachers, for an average release every 104 days.

No permission is needed to leave the U.S.  While in the U.S., please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.  No permission is needed to leave the U.S.

Trackable photos are appreciated and will be re-posted here.

This is one of a series of large beads obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs.  They are named for Texas towns with interesting names or histories.  Much of the text is from the online Handbook of Texas or texasescapes.com.

Swiss Alp is on U.S. Highway 77 eleven miles south of La Grange in southern Fayette County, in the rolling hills of the Blackland Prairies.  There is nothing resembling a Swiss Alp in the region, perphaps the name is another example of understated Texas humor.  The community was established about 1865 by German Lutheran settlers, who were followed by Wendish families from Serbin in Lee County. In 1867 the settlers formed the Philadelphia Lutheran Church.  A post office opened in 1877, and the population grew from thirty-five in 1884 to 100 in 1896, when the town had twelve businesses and a school associated with the church. The population dropped after 1900, and the post office closed in 1906. In 1967, when the population was thirty, three Lutheran churches from nearby towns merged to form the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Swiss Alp. In 1987 the church continued to serve the surrounding area of dairy farms and cattle operations. In 1990 the population was forty-six. The population remained the same in 2000.  Among Texans, it is most famous for its old dance hall.