Grasellenbach
Encyclopedia
Grasellenbach is a community in the Bergstraße district
in southern Hesse
, Germany
.
and the UNESCO
Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald at elevations between 420 and 580 m above sea level
. The southern Odenwald’s two most important brooks, the Ulfenbach and the Weschnitz, which both rise in the constituent community of Hammelbach where the Neckar
-Rhine watershed runs, flow through the community’s several centres.
(Odenwaldkreis
), in the south on the community of Wald-Michelbach
and in the west on the community of Rimbach.
These centres had already had a bond lasting from the Middle Ages
to the early 19th century when they were all in Electoral Palatinate’s Aicher Cent (tithing area). Only Litzelbach belonged to the Abtsteinach
tithing area in the Archbishopric of Mainz
. The Cent – an administrative division similar to a community today – bore the name Aicher or Hammelbacher Cent. The name Aicher Cent it got from the court’s location, which lay where a Gefehlte Aiche – an oak with many trunks – stood. Hammelbach’s first documentary mention goes back to the year 795, while the other constituent communities had theirs about 1300. Electoral Palatinate’s and Mainz’s overlordship in the area lasted until 1802, when under the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss they all became part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse
.
The village, whose livelihood originally came from craftsmen and farmers, experienced an upswing in the 19th century owing to the boom in new red sandstone
processing. In the 20th century, tourism
grew in importance, earning an especially prominent place in Gras-Ellenbach’s local economy. The community of Grasellenbach as a whole nowadays has roughly 4,000 inhabitants.
Today’s open-air resort (Luftkurort) of Hammelbach is, with some 1,400 inhabitants, the biggest and oldest of Grasellenbach’s constituent communities, as well as its administrative seat.
The name Hammelbach means “brook at a steep bank”. It refers to the two most important brooks that rise here, the Ulfenbach and the Weschnitz.
In Hammelbach are found both the Evangelical
and the Catholic church. Furthermore, there are a spring
-fed outdoor swimming pool
in Hammelbach and a campsite. Hammelbach’s church consecration festival, called a Kerwe here, is held each year on the last weekend in September, and draws its beginning from the time when the Evangelical Reformed church, built in 1802, was consecrated. Hammelbach has been historically regarded as the only constituent community that may legitimately hold a kermis, as that is where the Evangelical church stands.
In the Middle Ages
, Hammelbach was the tithing centre for the Aicher or Hammelbacher Cent. Worth seeing are the Gothic
chapel
ruins from the 14th century at the graveyard
and the historic bakehouse.
Each year in March, the so-called Schwarzpulverrally (“Gunpowder Rally”) is held. For this event, countless motorcyclists
from all over Germany always come to Hammelbach.
spa of Gras-Ellenbach with its roughly 950 inhabitants lies at elevations between 450 and 550 m.
The meadowland here through which flows the Ulfenbach is supposedly the place’s namesake (Gras means “grass” in German
, and Bach means “brook”). The Ellen part of the name most likely comes from the word Elm, which had the same meaning in German as it still has in English
(although the current German word is Ulme). There are other suggested derivations, but they are disputed.
Gras-Ellenbach is a state-recognized open-air resort (Luftkurort) with a Kneipp spa. On the Heimatbühne (“Homeland Stage”) in the Nibelungenhalle, Odenwald plays are staged.
at its peak) among meadows and woods.
As the “House Mountain” of the Überwald
region, the Tromm was early on a touristic outing destination. Near the peak is found the 27 m-tall Irene-Turm (tower), built in 1910, which affords a broad view. The constituent community of Tromm today presents itself as a recreational resort with a plethora of hiking
trails. Also on offer are winter sports.
The Hof-Theater Tromm has available a year-round programme of offerings. The year’s high point is the theatre festival Trommer Sommer.
At the Tromm conference houses at the Karl Kübel Foundation’s Odenwald Institute, there are regular seminars on the themes of job, family, communication and personal development.
The three other constituent communities of Wahlen (about 900 inhabitants), Scharbach (about 470) and Litzelbach (about 150) are first and foremost recreational resorts.
Towns. Serving as the grounds for this is the presumption that the legendary figure Siegfried the Dragon Slayer
, the main character in the Nibelungenlied
, was murdered somewhere near the constituent community of Gras-Ellenbach by Hagen
, at the Siegfriedbrunnen (“Siegfried’s Spring
”).
by Bundesstraße
460.
Buslines run to the railway stations in Heppenheim and Weinheim
, which, just like Grasellenbach, belong to the Rhine-Neckar Transport Network (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar).
Between 1901 and 1983, the constituent community of Wahlen was the terminus of the Überwaldbahn (railway).
Kreis Bergstraße
Bergstraße is a Kreis in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Groß-Gerau, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Odenwaldkreis, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, the urban district Mannheim, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, and the urban district of Worms...
in southern Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Location
The community lies in the OdenwaldOdenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
and the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald at elevations between 420 and 580 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. The southern Odenwald’s two most important brooks, the Ulfenbach and the Weschnitz, which both rise in the constituent community of Hammelbach where the Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...
-Rhine watershed runs, flow through the community’s several centres.
Neighbouring communities
Grasellenbach borders in the north on the community of Fürth, in the east on the community of MossautalMossautal
Mossautal in the Odenwald is a community and a state-recognized health resort in the Odenwaldkreis in Hesse, Germany.-Location:The community lies at elevations of between 300 and 500 m above sea level....
(Odenwaldkreis
Odenwaldkreis
The Odenwaldkreis is a Kreis in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Darmstadt-Dieburg, Miltenberg,Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis and Kreis Bergstraße. Odenwaldkreis belongs to the Rhine Neckar Area.-History:...
), in the south on the community of Wald-Michelbach
Wald-Michelbach
Wald-Michelbach is a community in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany.Through Wald-Michelbach runs the now disused Überwaldbahn .-Hardberg:...
and in the west on the community of Rimbach.
History
The community of Grasellenbach took its current form in 1972 through the merger of the formerly self-governing communities of Hammelbach (Litzelbach), Gras-Ellenbach, Wahlen and Scharbach.These centres had already had a bond lasting from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
to the early 19th century when they were all in Electoral Palatinate’s Aicher Cent (tithing area). Only Litzelbach belonged to the Abtsteinach
Abtsteinach
Abtsteinach is a community in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany. The community calls itself “The Gateway to the Überwald”.- Location :...
tithing area in the Archbishopric of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
. The Cent – an administrative division similar to a community today – bore the name Aicher or Hammelbacher Cent. The name Aicher Cent it got from the court’s location, which lay where a Gefehlte Aiche – an oak with many trunks – stood. Hammelbach’s first documentary mention goes back to the year 795, while the other constituent communities had theirs about 1300. Electoral Palatinate’s and Mainz’s overlordship in the area lasted until 1802, when under the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss they all became part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
.
The village, whose livelihood originally came from craftsmen and farmers, experienced an upswing in the 19th century owing to the boom in new red sandstone
New Red Sandstone
The New Red Sandstone is a chiefly British geological term for the beds of red sandstone and associated rocks laid down throughout the Permian to the beginning of the Triassic that underlie the Jurassic Lias; the term distinguishes it from the Old Red Sandstone which is largely Devonian in...
processing. In the 20th century, tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
grew in importance, earning an especially prominent place in Gras-Ellenbach’s local economy. The community of Grasellenbach as a whole nowadays has roughly 4,000 inhabitants.
Constituent communities
Grasellenbach’s Ortsteile are Gras-Ellenbach, Wahlen, Hammelbach, Litzelbach, Scharbach and Tromm.Hammelbach
The name Hammelbach means “brook at a steep bank”. It refers to the two most important brooks that rise here, the Ulfenbach and the Weschnitz.
In Hammelbach are found both the Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
and the Catholic church. Furthermore, there are a spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
-fed outdoor swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
in Hammelbach and a campsite. Hammelbach’s church consecration festival, called a Kerwe here, is held each year on the last weekend in September, and draws its beginning from the time when the Evangelical Reformed church, built in 1802, was consecrated. Hammelbach has been historically regarded as the only constituent community that may legitimately hold a kermis, as that is where the Evangelical church stands.
In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, Hammelbach was the tithing centre for the Aicher or Hammelbacher Cent. Worth seeing are the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
ruins from the 14th century at the graveyard
Graveyard
A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...
and the historic bakehouse.
Each year in March, the so-called Schwarzpulverrally (“Gunpowder Rally”) is held. For this event, countless motorcyclists
Motorcycling
Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. A variety of subcultures and lifestyles have been built up around motorcycling.-Benefits:Robert M. Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was a paean celebrating motorcycling...
from all over Germany always come to Hammelbach.
Gras-Ellenbach
The KneippSebastian Kneipp
Sebastian Kneipp was a Bavarian priest and one of the founders of the Naturopathic medicine movement...
spa of Gras-Ellenbach with its roughly 950 inhabitants lies at elevations between 450 and 550 m.
The meadowland here through which flows the Ulfenbach is supposedly the place’s namesake (Gras means “grass” in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and Bach means “brook”). The Ellen part of the name most likely comes from the word Elm, which had the same meaning in German as it still has in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
(although the current German word is Ulme). There are other suggested derivations, but they are disputed.
Gras-Ellenbach is a state-recognized open-air resort (Luftkurort) with a Kneipp spa. On the Heimatbühne (“Homeland Stage”) in the Nibelungenhalle, Odenwald plays are staged.
Tromm
Tromm is, with some 100 inhabitants, the smallest and highest of Grasellenbach’s constituent communities, and lies on the like-named mountain ridge (577 m above sea levelSea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
at its peak) among meadows and woods.
As the “House Mountain” of the Überwald
Überwald (Bergstraße)
The Überwald is a wooded area in the southeast of Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany, between the “Further” and “Hinder” Odenwald, comprising the communities of Abtsteinach, Grasellenbach and Wald-Michelbach. Wald-Michelbach is the Überwald’s central community. The name was likely first used by...
region, the Tromm was early on a touristic outing destination. Near the peak is found the 27 m-tall Irene-Turm (tower), built in 1910, which affords a broad view. The constituent community of Tromm today presents itself as a recreational resort with a plethora of hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
trails. Also on offer are winter sports.
The Hof-Theater Tromm has available a year-round programme of offerings. The year’s high point is the theatre festival Trommer Sommer.
At the Tromm conference houses at the Karl Kübel Foundation’s Odenwald Institute, there are regular seminars on the themes of job, family, communication and personal development.
The three other constituent communities of Wahlen (about 900 inhabitants), Scharbach (about 470) and Litzelbach (about 150) are first and foremost recreational resorts.
Community council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:| Parties and voter communities | % 2006 |
Seats 2006 |
% 2001 |
Seats 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | 33.2 | 8 | 29.7 | 7 |
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
33.1 | 7 | 34.2 | 8 |
| Freie Parteilose Wählergruppe Grasellenbach | 25.2 | 6 | 28.6 | 6 |
| GREENS | 8.6 | 2 | 7.6 | 2 |
| Total | 100.0 | 23 | 100.0 | 23 |
| Voter turnout in % | 53.2 | 59.5 | ||
Economy and infrastructure
The community’s livelihood is earned mainly through tourism. To promote this, Grasellenbach has joined the so-called network of Nibelungenstädte – NibelungNibelung
The German Nibelungen and the corresponding Old Norse form Niflung is the name in Germanic and Norse mythology of the royal family or lineage of the Burgundians who settled at Worms....
Towns. Serving as the grounds for this is the presumption that the legendary figure Siegfried the Dragon Slayer
Sigurd
Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
, the main character in the Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
, was murdered somewhere near the constituent community of Gras-Ellenbach by Hagen
Hagen (legend)
Hagen or Högni is a Burgundian warrior in tales about the Burgundian kingdom at Worms. Hagen is often identified as a brother or half-brother of King Gunther .In the Nibelungenlied, he is called Hagen of Tronje...
, at the Siegfriedbrunnen (“Siegfried’s Spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
”).
Transport
Grasellenbach is linked with Autobahn A 5Bundesautobahn 5
is a 445 km long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the...
by Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
460.
Buslines run to the railway stations in Heppenheim and Weinheim
Weinheim
Weinheim is a town in the north west of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany with 43 000 inhabitants, approximately 15 km north of Heidelberg and 10 km northeast of Mannheim. Together with these cities, it makes up the Rhine-Neckar triangle...
, which, just like Grasellenbach, belong to the Rhine-Neckar Transport Network (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar).
Between 1901 and 1983, the constituent community of Wahlen was the terminus of the Überwaldbahn (railway).
Further reading
- Hans-Günther Morr: Sagen, Märchen, Erzählungen aus dem Überwald mit historischen Flurmalen. Geiger-Verlag, Horb am Neckar, 1991. ISBN 3-89264-580-9
- Peter W. Sattler und Markus Röth: Grasellenbach. Natur-Kultur-Geschichte. Geiger-Verlag, Horb am Neckar, 1993.
- Peter W. Sattler und Dietmar Lehmann: Unsere Heimat - Der Überwald. Gemeinde Wald-Michelbach, Wald-Michelbach, 1984. ISBN 3-9800971-0-2
- Hans Schmitt: Hammelbach hoch im Odenwald. Gemeindeverwaltung Hammelbach, Hammelbach 1969.
- Hans-Jürgen Speichert: Gras-Ellenbach, Hammelbach, Litzelbach, Scharbach, Wahlen. Die Entwicklung ausgewählter Fremdenverkehrsorte im Odenwald. (Heidelberger geographische Arbeiten, 55). Geographisches Institut der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg 1979. ISBN 3-88570-055-7