Millstone (Wolfterode)
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Millstone near Wolfterode
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 Information boards and resting place for hikers at the Mühlstein. |
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| location | On the eastern outskirts of Wolfterode , municipality of Meißner in the Werra-Meißner district of North Hesse in Hesse . | |
| Identifier | ND 636.133 | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 13 ' N , 9 ° 55' E | |
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| Sea level | 240 m | |
| particularities | Special protection as a natural monument . | |
The millstone near Wolfterode is a rock formation that protrudes from the karst area of the eastern Meißner foreland . It consists of the dolomite of the upper Zechstein . From the village side it rises slightly upwards and breaks off towards the northeast in a steep wall with a half cave . It is around ten meters high from the bottom of the half-cave to the top . Because of its special geological and vegetation significance, the millstone was designated as a natural monument in 1936 .
location
The rock is located on the eastern edge of the Meißner community Wolfterode in the Werra-Meißner district in northern Hesse . In terms of its natural surroundings , the area around Wolfterode is assigned to the sub-unit “Meißner foreland” in “ Lower Werraland ”. To the northeast, the area merges into the “Soodener Bergland”, to the southeast into the “Weidenhäuser Hügelland” and to the west the “Hohe Meißner” borders. The natural spatial sub-units belong to the main unit group of the " Osthessischer Bergland ". The areas are in the " Geo-Naturpark Frau-Holle-Land ".
geology
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The millstone is one of a series of individual rock formations that characterize the landscape and that are interpreted as a result of the sinking of the Zechstein units below the Meißner massif. The millstone and some other of these striking rocks, such as the small and large Marstein near Frankenhain and the death stone near Abterode , were designated as natural monuments as early as the 1920s and 1930s.
These rocks consist of cellular - porous , yellowish-gray main dolomite of the Zechstein. Their appearance was caused by the erosion and leaching processes of the softer rocks surrounding them. Their holey appearance caused depleted gypsum nests within the rock.
The Zechstein, a limestone and dolomite rock, was formed from marine sediments . In the late Permian , over 250 million years ago, there was a shallow Zechstein Sea in what is now Central Europe , in which lime, dolomite, gypsum, anhydrite and salts were deposited. The various deposits were dependent on the water level of the constantly changing sea. Limes and dolomites formed when the sea level was higher. When the water level was extremely low and the temperature was high, gypsum and salts were deposited. The dolomites were formed, among other things, by the storage of magnesium in lime sludge, compounds that solidified in the further development of the main dolomite.
The legend about the millstone
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A legend from ancient times is linked to the millstone, in which the devil tried to prevent the building of a church, which of course he did not succeed: “When the devil once saw that a church was to be built in Wolfterode, he was angry and hurled a huge piece of rock from the Hohe Meissner to destroy the people and their work. The stone flew far beyond the target and fell on a meadow, where the mill pond soon formed. A second stone also missed the church and landed like a frog in a meadow near the mill, which is why it was named millstone. Because the stone still shows the devil's thumbprint like a cave, it is also called "devil's stone". "
The historian and myth researcher Karl Kollmann regards the legend about the millstone as an explanatory saga that should answer people's question: How did it all come about? The mill pond mentioned in the legend silted up in the 18th century and became a meadow. The shape of the bare top of the millstone, which rises almost twenty meters from the surrounding grassland, has been compared to a frog with its back to the village and looking north-east towards the rising sun at the time of the summer solstice . The gentle ascent from the village side breaks off steeply at the northeast end. Here is also the “thumbprint”, a half-cave around fourteen meters wide and up to six meters deep, the lower part of which protrudes farthest into the rock.
In the area around the Meißner there are numerous conspicuous natural formations , with a multitude of legends , customs and local sagas that entwine around Frau Holle . For Kollmann, the millstone is not an explicit and so designated place of Frau Holle, but it could be counted among the possible pre-Christian places of worship in Meißnerland.
Tourist development
The premium trail P2 is a roughly ten kilometer long marked circular trail through the Frankershausen karst area, which was awarded the hiking seal of the German Hiking Institute for its high quality . The tour classified as "easy" also leads to the millstone. The natural monument is freely accessible and can be walked around. Here, hikers will find a resting place and an information board that tells the story of the millstone.
literature
- Adalbert Schraft: GeoTours in Hessen - Geological forays through the most beautiful regions of Hessen. Volume 3 - East Hessian Buntsandstein-Bergland and Werra-Meißner-Bergland . Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology, Wiesbaden 2018, ISBN 978-3-89026-384-7 .
- Karl Kollmann: Mrs. Holle and the Meißnerland. On the trail of a myth. 2nd Edition. FW Cordier, Heiligenstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3-939848-32-5 .
- Hanna Wallbraun: On a journey of discovery on the Hohe Meißner. Hiking in the fascinating wonderland on our doorstep. Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park, Berkatal 2015.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Karl Kollmann: The millstone at Wolfterode. In: Frau Holle and the Meißnerland. P. 156 f.
- ↑ In the list of natural monuments in the Werra-Meißner district, the millstone has the number ND 636.133 with a designation date of February 11, 1938.
- ↑ Classification of natural areas according to Otto Klausing. In: Environmental Atlas Hessen ; accessed on June 27, 2020.
- ↑ Information from the display board on the millstone.
- ↑ Adalbert Schraft: From Höllental to the Hielöchern. In: GeoTouren in Hessen - Geological forays through the most beautiful regions of Hessen. P. 524 f.
- ↑ Hanna Wallbraun: When the devil wanted to prevent the church from being built. In: On a journey of discovery on the Hoher Meissner . P. 164 f.
- ↑ Description of the premium trail P2 Frankershäuser Karst In: Website of the Geo-Naturpark Frau-Holle-Land; accessed on June 27, 2020.