Amberwood Sunday House

The Sunday house at Amberwood is a 6 unit motel that has 3 units on the ground level and 3 on the upper level with covered porches that afford great mountain views.  Each room is nicely decorated and has a queen bed, tub/shower tiled bathroom, 20" cable TV and log burning fireplaces.  There is a microwave, micro fridge and coffee maker with coffee/condiments.

Origin of Sunday Houses. 

Sunday Houses were small second dwellings maintained near a church as a weekend place of residence. They became popular in the late 1800s among farmers and ranchers who lived in areas too remote to permit commuting to services as there were not many rural churches.  The families owning such houses normally left their farms and ranches Saturday morning, journeyed to town, took care of shopping and business, attended an evening dance or party, and spent the night in the Sunday house.  On Sunday they attended church in the morning and either returned home in the afternoon or attended Sunday school in the afternoon, and then spent a second night in town.  They were also used when a member of the family needed to stay in town to conduct business or receive medical attention.  Some Sunday houses became the residences of retired ranchers when their land was turned over to their sons. 

Texas Sunday Houses were almost exclusively confined to Germans in the Hill Country who settled in Fredericksburg, New Branfels, and Castroville.  Earlier it was expected that famers would build their houses in town and journey each day to outlying fields and pastures, in the European manner.   To that end, farmers were granted town lots.  Soon after initial colonization, however, Germans moved out to settle in isolated farmsteads on their land like their Anglo-American counterparts.   Many towns have streets lined with Sunday Houses and they have been purchased for restoration and tourist business.  (From "Old Homes and Building of Fredericksburg" by Elise Kowert and "Sunday Houses of Fredericksburg" by Ester Mueller). Texas Monthly, April 1930.