Bellheim is 104 acres of land owned by the Grafs, a family of German immigrants who settled here in 1853. Johann Graf immigrated from Posen, Prussia (currently, East Germany), in 1853, landed in Galveston, then settled in this area and called it the “Piney Community.” Bellheim includes ½ mile of a clear, sandy-bottomed creek called Piney.
During the 1800s, the Grafs originally had approximately 700 acres of land in the Piney Community. Cotton, and then watermelons, were agricultural crops, and many Graf descendants lived and farmed in the area.
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, our grandparents had a bumper watermelon crop. They shipped a full train carload to Kansas for sale and got a good price for them. The second carload they got a bill because the melons were sold at such a low price it did not cover the cost of freight. Life was difficult.
The land is mostly ranch land now as families have either died off or moved to the big city (Houston) where life was easier. Bellheim is the only remaining land owned by the Grafs in what was called the Piney Community. We opened it up for all to enjoy and is great for the young and young-at-heart to explore the creek, its bottom-land and ponds, and miles of trails along the creek and pasture land.
The Bellheim house was built in 1978 by Ralph Frank, Otis Graf’s first cousin and son of Olga Graf Frank. Like Otis (our father), Ralph grew up in the Piney Community. Ralph was a master homebuilder in the area, much in demand, and had a colorful character. One of his helpers would always hold a hammer halfway up the handle. Ralph sawed off half the handle and gave it back to him.