Veigl traces his German ancestry to 1878, when brothers George and Josef Veigl arrived in Cullman from the Bavaria region of Germany. His great-uncle, Karl( Fr. Martin Schaefers, OSB), who was born in Germany in 1878 and came to Cullman in the 1890s, was ordained a Benedictine monk at St. Bernard Abbey in 1912. He is buried in the abbey ' s cemetery.
“ So, our daughter Lily Beth, who is a student at St. Bernard Prep, is one of very few students who can say she had an ancestor who was one of the original monks at St. Bernard,” said Veigl.
The Veigl family has been members of Sacred Heart Church in Cullman for 148 of the parish ' s 152-year history. Veigl has served on the Sacred Heart Parish Council for the past 30 years.
In keeping with all things German-American, earlier this year Veigl discovered a distant cousin who tracked him down via Facebook. It turned out that the messaging relative, who lives in Germany, and Veigl had the same great-great-grandfather. Another distant Veigl cousin runs a guesthouse and biergarten in southeastern Germany that last year celebrated its 475th anniversary.
A homebuilder by trade, Veigl and his wife, Beth an interior designer, have built a body of work that includes the restoration of historic homes and buildings in the community. It is an interest Veigl traces back to age nine,
when he became an apprentice to his father, Willie, learning traditional building techniques, woodworking, forestry and farming.
In 1996, Veigl found that the Sacred Heart Church roof and 170-foot-tall steeples were in dire need of repair, which soon became the focus of an extensive restoration project. With Veigl as a volunteer consultant, the 42-month project was completed in the summer of 2000, complete with a time capsule placed in the north cross.
“ Growing up working with my dad and learning various building techniques, I had the knowledge of what was going on and what needed to be done," he said. " Restoration projects like that are unique in that you must know what it is made of and how to proceed so that you don ' t harm anything and create other problems. It was a complicated, challenging but rewarding project. I was truly honored to be a part of it. You don ' t have to be Catholic in Cullman to know that the church steeples are a signature part of the city skyline. And to have a hand in keeping them restored is a humbling experience.”
In 2018, the zinc shingles on the church spires suffered hail damage and had to be replaced, so Veigl was once again called upon to lend his volunteer expertise, this time by the Diocese of Birmingham. For added posterity, he placed a second time capsule in the north cross upon completion of the project.
PHOTO COURTESY EDGAR VEIGL
In 2018, Edgar Veigl with a restored Sacred Heart Church cross.
PHOTO COURTESY EDGAR VEIGL
As a fourth-generation German Cullman resident, local homebuilder, landlord, preservationist and historian, Edgar Veigl is well known throughout the city, county and surrounding area.
Edgar Veigl traces his interest in homebuilding back to age nine, when he became an apprentice to his father, Willie, learning traditional building techniques, woodworking, forestry and farming.
22 Cullman magazine | HOLIDAY 2026