The 1908 Brender Farmhouse includes 5 bedrooms:  1 King bedroom at the top of the stairs, 1 Queen bedroom on the main floor with a private bath, 1 Queen-sized bed in the Blue room with the ceiling fan, the Green “bunk room” with 2 twin beds and a full-size bed, the Peach room with a Queen-sized bed, 2 antique “Pioneer” rope twin beds (note the original hay-stuffed mattresses under the feather beds on the bottom) & 1 twin bed on the 3rd floor along with a sofa hide-a-bed, and a twin bed on the sleeping porch for summer use only.  A twin rollaway bed is in the laundry room for use anywhere in the house.  Do not move any of the large furniture or beds around the house.  Extra linens, blankets, & bedding are in all the bedroom closets and laundry room.  Extra towels and supplies are in the Laundry room next to the kitchen.  A few of our items are left permanently around the house, so if you run into a drawer with clothing, please ignore it.  Most everything we use is in storage. Alexander Bartolmaus Brender is said to be the first pioneer of the Cashmere area.  He was born 8/24/1851 in Giengen, Germany and came to the US at the age of 17.  He was trained to be a blacksmith.  In 1880 he made his way to Ellensburg but after a year he met a trapper who told him of the beautiful Wenatchee area.  Traveling up the Wenatchee River, he met only Indians who discouraged him from settling here; however, he followed an Indian trail – that is now Pioneer Ave. - back into a quiet canyon.  He saw tall trees for building materials and fuel, several good springs and rich black soil.   Brender built a long house with a shake roof in the center of where our driveway is now.  He raised potatoes, onions and beets, learned the Chinook language and Indians were often his only guests.  He made all his own tools and also raised tobacco and operated a dairy farm.  People laughed at him when he planted fruit trees, which turned out to be a great crop.  He homesteaded 160 acres here and eventually gave 40 acres each to his 4 sons—Charles, Bart, Jess & Peter.   

 

He built a 2nd house in 1886 after he married a widow from Texas with 3 girls.  Mr. Brender lived to be 89 years old.  His last years were spent in the 10-room home that he built in 1908 of lumber from trees on the property.  We purchased the land from Melvin (Bud) Brender, grandson of Alexander, in Sept. 2006.  Bud and his wife, Esther, recently passed away but were still living in Wenatchee and we got to know them well.  When they went to sell the last 40 acres, no one in their family wanted the final piece of homestead.  A neighbor behind us purchased the 40 acres from the original Brender family in 2005 and subdivided the land into 10+ acre parcels.  We found the Brender farm home and 20 acres for sale Spring of 2006.  We fell in love with the land and the peacefulness of the canyon as it reminded us of places in Germany where Ludger was raised.  The old barn across the drive used to be the Brenders, but the neighbor retained it for horse carriage and it’s now for sale.  We hope to own it someday to use as a winery.