Frankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan.

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which bills itself as "The World's Largest Christmas Store", is located in Frankenmuth (Bronner's is page 3 on this website and can be reached through the link at the bottom of this page).

The most popular nickname is "Muth", but the city is also nicknamed "Little Bavaria". The city's name is a combination of two words. "Franken" represents the Province of Franconia in the Kingdom of Bavaria, home of the Franks, where the original settlers were from. The German word "Muth" means courage; thus, the name Frankenmuth means "Courage of the Franconians."

The area was settled and named in 1845 by conservative Lutheran immigrants from Franconia (now part of Bavaria) in Germany. The group of settlers left Germany on April 20, 1845 and arrived at Castle Garden seven weeks later. They traveled via canals and the Great Lakes from New York to Detroit and arrived in August 1845. Sailing on the Nelson Smith, the settlers made their way to Saginaw and traveled over land to the present location the city of Frankenmuth. Originally part of Bridgeport Township and later Frankenmuth Township, Frankenmuth became a village in 1904 and finally a city on October 1, 1959.

The nearby villages of Frankenlust, Frankentrost, and Frankenhilf illustrate that the area remained a magnet for other Germans from the same region even after it lost its original purpose as a mission post for the spread of Christianity to the Chippewa tribe.

Below: Karen Duquette's cousin Cyndi Dally and her son Chris at the German Settlers sign.

Below: Bavarian Chicken Rivalry: There are two rival all-you-can-eat Bavarian fried chicken restaurants, located on opposite sides of the street. Zehnder's and the Bavarian Inn are owned by cousins who have a clear hatred for each other. Each restaurant can seat over 1000 people simultaneously. The restaurants are basically identical but each has their own local Bavarian-style beer, local girls as waitresses in Bavarian costumes, and of course the all-you-can-eat fried chicken menus.

Karen, Lee, Bruce, Cyndi, and Chris ate at Zehnder's. Everyone liked their dinner, except Karen Duquette, because her chicken was overcooked, dry and tough.

Below: The two RV Gypsies became German, and so did Cyndi and Bruce Dally.......

Below: Outside of Zak's there was a pot of real flowers and a telescope - A Flower Bowl Kaleidoscope.

Below: A Flower Bowl Kaleidoscope - The two RV Gypsies looked into the telescope at the flowers and were amazed.

The photos below show the flowers as seen through the telescope shown above. The two RV Gypsies watched the flowers spin in the pot and then they saw the flowers twirl around in kaleidoscope fashion. Karen Duquette took a movie of that and the movie can be seen from the TOC button at the bottom of each sectional page.

Below: Fudge being made in Zak's kitchen

Below: Lee Duquette tasted a sample of the fudge.

Below: Herman the German serving fudge at Zak's

Below: Karen Duquette wanted the entire tray of fudge. Herman said "no way, girl"

Below: Karen Duquette got friendly with Herman
to try and get the tray, but still no luck.

Below: Lee Duquette gave the Italian sign
for Ummmm Good because Herman shared the food with Lee.

Below: Lee Duquette thought this was the right size
piece of fudge for him.

Below: A Mural on the outside of the building

Below: Karen and Cyndi play act as Little Bo Peep

Below: The two RV Gypsies thought this was a gorgeous building, until they realized it was an insurance building. Oh well!

Below: Willi's Sausage: More Variety Than You Can Shake A Stick At!

Below: Look at the time..... No, look at the CLOCK!

Below: Frankenmuth's famous Cheese Haus
- probably every kind of cheese you can imagine is sold here.

Below: The Visitor Center in Frankenmuth

Below: The Visitor Center Fountain

Please continue on to Frankenmuth's page 2 -
The Barbarian Belle Riverboat, the covered bridge,and shopping plus Bonner's Christmas Store