Forest house Dietzhölze

Forester's house Dietzhölze at the Upper Dietzhölze pond

Upper Dietzhölze pond with the forester's house Dietzhölze (June 2015)

Oberer Dietzhölze-Weiher in June 2015

The Forsthaus Dietzhölze is a listed forester's house in the district of Rittershausen , a district of the Dietzhölztal community in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse . It is entered on the list of cultural monuments in Dietzhölztal under the number 132516 .

Geographical location

The forester's house is about 3 kilometers (km) north of Rittershausen (to Dietzhölztal), 1.6 km south of the Ilsequelle , 4.4 km east of Werthenbach (to Netphen ) and 1 km (as the crow flies) west of Sohl (Bad Laasphe) . It is located at almost 500 m above sea level. NHN on the upper reaches of the Dill tributary Dietzhölze , which rises 1.7 km west-southwest in the Haincher Höhe on the eastern slope of the Herrnberg ( 625.5 m ). A few meters south of the forester's house is the Obere Dietzhölze-Weiher and about 1.9 Dietzhölze-km downstream of the Untere Dietzhölze-Weiher . The Dietzhölztal with the forester's house is framed by the 675.9 m high Jagdberg in the north-northwest, the Herrenberg ( 624.2 m ) in the west-northwest, the Herrnberg at the Dietzhölzquelle in the west-southwest, the 641.1 m high Nordhöll in the southwest and an approximately 619 , 4 m high nameless summit near the small town of Sohl in the northeast. A natural monument (ND), namely the Börnchesbuche, is only a short distance from the forester's house, on the western edge of the Dietzhölztal.

The Forthaus is connected to Rittershausen via a small asphalt road, but can also be reached via a variety of hiking trails.

Previous buildings

300 years ago there was a hunting lodge and an estate belonging to the Dillenburg royal family, named "Wilhelmsthal" after its builder, near the present forester's lodge. Prince Wilhelm II of Nassau-Dillenburg, who had the hunting lodge built in 1702, ruled Dillenburg from 1701 to 1724, then his brother, Prince Christian, from 1724 to 1739. He died while hunting in Straßebersbach. After the princes Nassau-Dillenburg died out due to the death of Prince Christian in 1739, "the hunting festivals were over". The manor house was empty as early as 1744, whereas the estate was still leased.

As local history records (village chronicle and school chronicle Rittershausen) can be seen, the Obere Dietzhölze-Weiher near the forester's house already existed at the time of the Wilhelmsthal estate. At an auction on April 21, 1757, fire-damaged citizens from Niederscheld, about 20 km away, were awarded the contract to purchase the buildings for demolition. With that, Hof Wilhelmsthal was closed after only 55 years.

history

Until 1840 there was no forester's house in Dietzhölze. The manorial forests were looked after by foresters who had their apartments in Rittershausen or even in Straßebersbach. Crimes such as poaching, wood theft and the like increased sharply. This happened mainly through residents of the nearby "Prussian settlements and farms" in the directly neighboring Wittgensteiner Land. Foresters from Rittershausen needed about an hour to get to the forests that were quite far away. Therefore, the then head forester felt compelled to submit a building application for a forester's house to the manorial forestry office. A one-story, simple house was planned, "which could not cost much". The building permit was granted by Duke Adolf von Nassau (1817–1905), who later became the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. However, he made one condition: instead of a simple forester's apartment, a large, two-story building and corresponding, neat economic buildings should be built. The forester should live on the lower floor, the upper floor was reserved for the duke, who also furnished his own apartment.

From July 3, 1843, the forester's apartment was occupied by forester Adam Koch (1789–1875) from Rittershausen. In 1856 the 3.5 km long path from Rittershausen to the hunting lodge was rebuilt in time for Duke Adolf's next visit in April 1857. He stayed there to hunt capercaillie and killed two animals. In the spring of 1862 he repeated his visit. During this time, the last capercaillie that existed in Rittershausen died. After the German War of 1866, Duke Adolf does not seem to have been in Rittershausen anymore.

As early as 1869 the house received running water from a nearby well; There has been electric light there since 1926. On and in the house was rebuilt several times according to the conditions of the time; For a few decades there was even an own bakery.

Since around 2006 the forest ranger's office has not been re-staffed and the forester's house has been given up. In the meantime, the Herborn Forestry Office, as the current owner, offers private individuals, preferably of course hunting enthusiasts, “Holidays in the Dietzhölze Forest House”.