Worth seeing and knowing about the landscape and surroundings
Landscapes:
Wolfartsweier
Wolfartsweier lies at the end of the Wetterbach valley, which is spanned by a bridge over the A8 highway at the outdoor pool. As you continue along the border path, you find yourself in the foothill zone (edge of the Rhine rift valley) with views across the Rhine plain to the Palatinate mountains. The area is very damp in places, as there are numerous hillside springs. In spring there are extensive stands of wild garlic. Towards the Rhine plain, we come across narrow, steep gorges. The Hornklamm gorge is crossed on the hike. The whole area is overgrown with beech trees, which have ideal growing conditions here.
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Historical:
Here are excerpts of some information on the history of the respective places. If you want to know more, you can find it on the homepage of the city of Karlsruhe, the appropriate link can be found at the end of the respective town chronicles.
WolfartsweierÂ
1261, 2 Dec. First written mention of the village. In a document, Pope Urban IV confirms the monastery of Gottesaue, among other things, monastery estates and rights in "Wolvoldeswilere".
1329 First documented mention of a church and a priest in "Wolf hartswilre". A document from 1488 mentions "St. Margarethen" as the name of the parish church.
1416 Heinrich von Gärtringen buys part of the village from Margrave Bernhard. The margrave's son reacquires this property in 1439.
1419 A gravestone at St. James' Church indicates this year as the year of death of the knight Pleich von Waldeck. His family probably owned a castle above the village, which may have been built on the remains of the walls of a Roman keep. (Gleichen Castle)
1480 Gottesaue Monastery acquires the "Steinhof" in "Wolferzwilr" from Mathias Wihlin and Bernhard Luz. In 1531, the municipality acquires the Steinhof and sells it on to the margrave in the same year. In the 1950s, a new residential area was built on this historic site.
1535 At the partition of Baden, Wolfartsweier falls to the Margraviate of Baden-Durlach.
1556 Appointment of the first Lutheran pastor by Margrave Charles II.
Further information at http://www.karlsruhe.de/b4/stadtteile/bergdoerfer/wolfartsweier/chronik.de
Buildings worth seeing, taken from the list of monuments of the city of Karlsruhe
- Scrap tower Am Zündhütle
- In the Steinkreuzstraße, stone cross with vine knife, today stands at the western end of the village in a green area.
- "Zum Rössle" inn, today a residential building. Two-storey eaves gatehouse with side building. First mentioned in 1767
- Inn "Zum Schwan", first mentioned in 1746
- Protestant Jakobskirche, late Romanesque at its core, nave 1744-45 by Johann Heinrich Arnold, extended in 1984/85. With quarry stone wall and arched gate to the cemetery, 19th century, memorial to the fallen in 1870/71, gravestones.
- Wolf fountain at the town hall
GrünwettersbachÂ
The Protestant church in Grünwettersbach, which is at least 423 years older than the younger Palmbach district of Wettersbach, can be seen from afar, rising up on a protruding hill. This church, with its Romanesque tower dating back to the 12th century, was first mentioned in 1278 as follows "...dominus Adelhart verus pastor in weterspach..." As the whole area was covered by a large, dense forest at the time, no archaeological finds can tell us anything about the time before 1200.
The village was laid out as a so-called clustered village and probably had its core in the middle Kirchstraße, as the village was easier to defend here than a place deeper in the valley. In addition, several springs provided the necessary water for life.
Seventy years after the first mention, on May 22, 1348, the archdeacon and provost of St. German in Speyer transferred the patronage rights of the parish church in Grünwettersbach to the Teutonic Order. And not quite 20 years later, the noblemen Balsam and Kraft from Wedersbach were named as local nobles.
The introduction of the Reformation in 1534 brought the first Protestant pastor to the village, which had been transferred to Württemberg following the secularization of Herrenalb Abbey, even though it was surrounded by Baden territory. At this time, people spoke of the "Württemberg corridor" (1534 - 1602). Grünwettersbach was therefore the westernmost possession of Württemberg at this time. The official town was Neuenbürg a. d. Enz, which was far, far away due to the road and path conditions at the time.
Further information at http://www.karlsruhe.de/b4/stadtteile/bergdoerfer/gruenwettersbach/geschichte.de
Buildings worth seeing, taken from the list of monuments of the city of Karlsruhe
- Church first mentioned in 1278, west tower from the 12th century, Protestant from 1534 (introduction of the Reformation) Bell storey of the tower and church interior by Wilhelm Friedrich Goetz, 1782, baptismal font 1491, wooden pulpit around 1780, organ, 12th/18th century by Wilhelm Friedrich Goetz, Ludwigsburg
- Old schoolhouse from 1846.
- Am Wetterbach 31, half-timbered house, two storeys above a high solid basement with arched entrance and corner console, dated GB 1799.
Author's tip
Refreshment stops:
Wolfartsweier: Wirtshaus zum Schwanen or kiosk at the outdoor pool, if it is open.
Grünwettersbach: ASV restaurant, Gasthof Tannweg
Directions
Stage 1: From Wolfartsweier "Wölfle" swimming pool to the radio tower (approx. 5 km)
Start: in Wolfartsweier, streetcar stop Wolfartsweier-Nord lines 2 and 8, bus stop Wolfartsweier-Süd lines 47 and 27
Hike via Siebenmannstr. to the "Wölfle" swimming pool. At the signpost "Wolfartsweier Freibad", continue under the highway bridge to Wetterstein on the former border path in the direction of Ettlingen to the "Dreimarkstein" on the left at the entrance to the Hornklamm via "Hornklamm", "obere Hornklamm" steeply uphill. The former path on the right-hand side of the gorge is currently not accessible, but is to be made accessible again (this is the boundary between Grünwettersbach and Ettlingen).
At the upper end of the gorge, follow the signpost "oberer Edelberg" and continue via "Am Grenzweg", "An der Grenze" to the "Wildgehege". This path runs along the former border path and the Grünwettersbach / Ettlingen district boundary.
The end of the stage is reached at the "Wildgehege". The access to the bus stop "Grünwettersbach Rathaus" (line 47) begins on a short section of the mule track (blue diamond) to the "Funkturm". From there through forest and orchards to the bus stop in Grünwettersbach. Departure times can be found on the notice board in the showcase of the Wettersbach Black Forest Association, which you pass on the way to the radio tower. As you walk past, you have a view of Grünwettersbach with the so-called Schnellerburg.
The painter Albert Schneller, born 10.05.1892 in Jechtingen, died 1.6.1970 in Grünwettersbach. He lived in Grünwettersbach from 1925 to 1970. Because of his expressionist painting, his pictures were not shown during the National Socialist era.
After the Second World War, he found his way to a new landscape style and to non-objective and modern figure painting.
Continue on, turning right onto Albert-Schneller-Weg. There you can use one of Grünwettersbach's many stairways to reach Wingertgasse and follow it steeply downhill with a view of the church tower of the Protestant church. There you meet the street "Am Steinhäusle" and then reach the bus stop via the Kirchstaig stairway.
Equipment
Good shoes, camera, binoculars, drinks for on the way.
Book recommendations by the author
A brochure with explanations and the hiking map is available at the office of the Black Forest Association Wettersbach e.V., Am Wetterbach 48, 76228 Karlsruhe. (while stocks last)
Further information
