Palatinate woodland
Holzland is the name of an area in the western part of the Palatinate Forest .
Location and structure
The woodland is clearly delimited by the surrounding rivers, in the south and southeast by the Schwarzbach , in the west and north by its tributary Moosalb . Only in the far east, on the Steinberg , does the woodland merge into the Frankenweide without any distinctive terrain .
The valleys that delimit and traverse the woodland are partly still largely natural. Mighty sandstone formations often emerge on the slopes . Slopes and heights are - except in the immediate vicinity of the villages - covered by high-quality mixed forest. The sessile oaks harvested here, often several centuries old, achieve some of the highest wood prices.
history
The quality and cohesion of the forest area gave the woodland its name. Even in times when extensive overexploitation was carried out in large parts of the Palatinate Forest through forest pasture , charcoal burning and mining , valuable stocks have always survived here over the centuries.
Nevertheless, there was also clearing here, which essentially took place in the 9th century in connection with the settlement policy of the Hornbach monastery , to which the area previously belonging to the Reichsland was probably donated by the Counts of Homburg . The Electoral Palatinate received the manorial rule over the area . After the abolition of the Hornbach monastery in 1558 as a result of the Reformation , its ownership rights fell to the Palatinate-Zweibrücken family , which from then on was in constant dispute with the Electoral Palatinate. Therefore, in 1776, a barter agreement was signed, whereby Zweibrücken ceded its rights in Holzland to the Electoral Palatinate.
Population and traffic
The largest municipality and seat of the municipal administration , Waldfischbach-Burgalben , is located on the southwestern edge of the area in the Moosalbtal. The villages Steinalben and Schopp are located upstream of the Moosalb . In the center of the Holzland lies at 430 m above sea level. NN the place Heltersberg , also high places are Geiselberg and Schmalenberg . A total of around 11,500 people live in Holzland.
The main traffic axis is the B 270 Pirmasens - Kaiserslautern running in the Moosalbtal in north-south direction and the Biebermühlbahn running parallel to it . The latter has three train stations in Holzland: Waldfischbach , Steinalben and Schopp .
Attractions
- The pilgrimage site of Maria Rosenberg , which dates back to the 12th century , is located in Waldfischbach-Burgalben.
- The history of local handicrafts is the focus of the Heltersberg local history museum. In addition to the usual tools and objects of rural customs, the museum also has eight craftsmen's rooms, a forge and a coin collection that documents the history of the currency from the D-Mark in 1948 to the introduction of the euro .
- The trout breeding facility at the Hirschalbermühle near Schmalenberg is one of the largest in Germany.
- The ruins of a powder mill that was destroyed in 1927 are located between the towns of Schopp and Steinalben. The explosives produced were used worldwide for the construction of railroad lines.
Leisure and Tourism
The Holzland communities are trying to get some share of the tourism in the Palatinate Forest. The Friends of Nature and the Palatinate Forest Association maintain several mountain huts. On Clausensee , the dog pond and Schwarzbachtal there are tent sites.
An extensive network of hiking trails is marked by the Palatinate Forest Association , and there are also several designated mountain bike trails . The gorge-like valleys with ponds and springs around Heltersberg and the valley of the deer alb , which flows into the Moosalb at the powder mill, are particularly popular .
There is a mountain bath in Heltersberg, which was completely renovated in 2001 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Local history museum of the local community. Retrieved on March 10, 2019 (German).