Greens

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The Gründchen is a meadow and forest landscape in the Hessian Vogelsberg district . It denotes the valley floor of the Jossa , its tributary Schwarza and both of the tributary streams.

Origin of name

The name Gründchen developed from the earlier name Grebenauer Grund . It refers to the fragmented nature of the landscape and has been used in historiography and variously in official correspondence since at least the 19th century.

geography

location

The Gründchen is in the east of the former district of Alsfeld . Since 1972, when the districts of Alsfeld and Lauterbach were united in the Vogelsberg district with the Hessian regional reform , the term Gründchen has been spatially synonymous with the city of Grebenau, which was expanded at the same time by incorporations, with its districts of Bieben , Eulersdorf , Grebenau, Reimenrod , Schwarz , Udenhausen and Wallersdorf assign exactly.

The two main waters of the Gründchen are the 22.9 km long Jossa and its longest tributary, the 8.8 km long Schwarza.

In the west, the mountain range and the Schwalm- Jossa watershed form the upper end of the valley with the Auerberg ( 500.5  m above sea  level ) and the Rotzenberg (approx.  458  m ). To the northwest to the northeast borders the foothills of the Knüll mountain range (Knüll) with the Hirschberg ( 506  m ), formerly Herzisberg and synonymous with the located there Burg Herzberg also present Herzberg is called, the area from. In the southeast, a wooded ridge with the Kahr ( 420.2  m ) near Udenhausen in the northeast to the waiting hill ( 382.9  m ) at Wallersdorf represents a natural barrier. The running out heights of the Hirschberg, together with the ridge of the waiting hill, allow the im East running water of the Jossa at the lower valley exit only a narrow passage. In the southwest, where the Jossa enters the green, the valley landscape, separated by a narrow forest belt, gently merges into the high valleys around Willofs and Wernges .

Natural allocation and structure

The Gründchen heard in the natural area feature unit group East Hesse Highlands (no. 35) to the main unit Fulda Haune-plateau (355) and is divided into natural areas Ottrauer Bergland (355.0) in the north and Schlitzerland (355.1) in the south. The border between the two natural spaces runs in a south-west-north-east direction over elevations south-east along the Schwarza and, from its mouth, also south-east along the Jossa.

geology

In the Gründchen, you will find mostly red sandstone with basalt knobs woven in like an island .

climate

In contrast to the south, west and north, where wooded mountain ranges shield the greenery, the Jossatal is wide open to the east. From the Fulda valley, the continental cold streaming in from the east can cause uncomfortable temperatures in winter and spring. Experience has shown that spring begins eight to ten days later in the Gründchen than in the Oberland, i.e. behind the heights of the Auerberg and the Kohlhaupt. Already in the Alsfeld Basin, which is only 20 kilometers (km) to the west, people jokingly speak of "Hessian Siberia" when talking about the climate in the Gründchen, although this term is also used for regions in northern Hesse. Conversely, the mountains in the west of the Gründchen hold off some storms. Often the residents of the Gründchen are only spectators when the strongest summer thunderstorms with hail and heavy rainfall pass south near Lauterbach or north near Lingelbach am Gründchen.

The average rainfall is 600 to 700 l / m² per year, the mean annual temperature 6 to 8 ° C.

Agriculture and Forestry

Instead of the extensive beech forests that characterized the green in the Middle Ages, pine and spruce have become the predominant tree species in the still wooded region over the past 400 years. From 1625, generations of foresters contributed to the fact that the "Grebenauer Kiefer" is known nationwide because of its high quality wood. In 1876, barely 250 years after the conversion began, only 15% of the forest area was left with deciduous trees in the green; the high forest management had replaced the coppice forest management, in which predominantly fast-growing birch trees were felled every 18 to 20 years.

Agricultural use is essentially limited to the deeper and more nutrient-rich soils of the valley slopes. The floodplains and flatter valley floors are mostly used as grassland.

Economy and Transport

In terms of traffic, Grebenau and the Gründchen were conveniently located on the east-west connection from the Rhine-Main area to Thuringia , the so-called Kurzen Hessen . In the districts of Grebenau and Schwarz, a section of the route is still called Frankfurter Strasse today. From the northeast to the southwest the junction cut this route from Alsfeld in the direction of Lauterbach, and from the south the Ottrauer Weg from Fulda passed Grebenau. Merchants, craftsmen and even the military were on the old trade routes. The transport of goods to the trade fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig ensured regular income and a modest livelihood through customs revenue and paid auxiliary services. The Fulda prince abbots occasionally used their estate, located a day's journey from Fulda near Wallersdorf, to rest when they went to Westphalian z. B. traveled to Paderborn , Hameln or the Corvey Monastery .

It was not until 1915/1916 that the Gründchen was connected to the rail network with the construction of the 23.4 km long rail link (Gründchenbahn) between Alsfeld and Niederjossa . Many thousands of cubic meters (m³) of wood and agricultural raw products left the green along this route. In the opposite direction found z. B. fertilizers inexpensive the way into the valley. The Raiffeisen warehouse on Bahnhofstrasse in Grebenau was an important hub for the export and import of goods in the Gründchen. For many decades the railroad was also an important means of transport for schoolchildren and commuters.

The Alsfeld – Bad Hersfeld railway line lost much of its importance due to the division of Germany . Declining transport requirements in the freight sector and upcoming renovation investments in the two large bridge structures near Eifa brought the end of passenger traffic on this route a few months before it was 60 years old. Starting from Alsfeld, further sections of the route were gradually closed to freight traffic over the next 20 years. Today, rail traffic is no longer possible on the entire route. Local public transport is served by regular buses to Alsfeld, Lauterbach and Bad Hersfeld .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Natural area maps from single sheets 1: 200,000 of the Federal Institute for Regional Studies , "Sheet 126 - Fulda"

See also

Web links