Alpenrod is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhineland- ...

'' – in the

Westerwaldkreis The Westerwaldkreis ("District of Westerwald") is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Altenkirchen, Lahn-Dill, Limburg-Weilburg, Rhein-Lahn, the district-free ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The

Gräbersberg The Gräbersberg, at , the highest point in the western Westerwald, a low mountain range in central Germany whose western region extends from the Nister river in the east to the Rhine in the west. On the slopes of the Gräbersberg lies the villag ...

(513 m above sea level) on the ''Gemarkung Alpenrod'' – a rural area attached to the community – is the highest point in the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Hachenburg, a kind of collective municipality. On the Gräbersberg stands an observation tower with a viewing platform 30 m high and open to the public.

Geography

The community lies in the Westerwald between

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

and

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

. Flowing through the community is the river Große Nister. Alpenrod belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Hachenburg, whose seat is in the town of

Hachenburg Hachenburg is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography The town lies in the Westerwald between Koblenz and Siegen, roughly 10 km west of Bad Marienberg on the river Nister. Hachenburg is the administrative s ...

. Alpenrod’s ''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population t ...

e'' are Alpenrod, Hirtscheid and Dehlingen.

History

Presumed to be the community’s founder is the ''

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

'' (roughly “reeve”) Adalbert von Freusburg. In a document from the year 1320, the village is mentioned for the first time as ''Albrechtsrode''. Here also once stood a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

to guard the ways along the Nichel. However, at least as early as 1131, there had once been a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

with a small settlement. The current

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

’s tower has its roots in this time. Estimates put its beginnings in the 10th century. Alpenrod has two outlying centres, Dehlingen (whose first settler, in 1618, was named Dillinger) and Hirtscheid (meaning “hart border”). Running in the latter by 1551 was a valley mill. Count Salentin Ernst von Manderscheid-Sayn tried more than once (1657; 1678–1680) to get traffic on the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

road – nowadays '' Bundesstraße'' 8 – to come through Hachenburg, building a post road which led above Alpenrod, passing by the Neuhof estate, and which is still called the “Post Road” (''Poststraße'') today. The Cologne-

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

road and the Cologne-Frankfurt road were the most important long-distance roads from the time of the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

kings. Since the dale was boggy and not fully passable in the old days, all roadways led over the heights, like the old post road. It is believed that this road was already used in

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

times. ; population development Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz - Infothek
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Politic

The municipal council is made up of 17 council members, including the extraofficial mayor (''Bürgermeister''), who were elected in a municipal election on 13 June 2004.

Economy and infrastructure

The community lies between ''Bundesstraßen'' 255, linking

and

, and 414, leading from Montabaur to Herborn. The A 3 with its ''Montabaur'' interchange (AS 40) lies 25 km away. The nearest

InterCityExpress The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

stop is the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.

Buildings

* Observation tower on the Gräbersberg

External links

Alpenrod with its own interactive Internet entry

References

{{Authority control Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Westerwaldkreis