SCHOENTHAL, TEXAS. Schoenthal, ten miles west of New Braunfels in southern Comal County, was settled in 1851, when land of the M. Gallardo survey was broken into farms. The town was originally called Haag's Settlement, and the Haag's Settlement school was erected in 1865. By the 1880s the community was known as Schoenthal (German for "pretty valley"). In the vicinity are Natural Bridge Caverns, an important local tourist attraction, and Bat Cave. The latter was once the source of 1,000 tons of bat guano annually.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Oscar Haas, History of New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas, 1844-1946 (Austin: Steck, 1968).
