The Palmer Ort is the southernmost point of the German

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

island of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

and its peninsula of

Zudar The Zudar is a peninsula on the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen. It is about 18 square kilometres in area and sharply divided. Location The peninsula lies between the bay of Schoritzer Wiek, the lagoon of Rügischer Bodden (the northe ...

. The cape lies on the territory of the municipality Garz/Rügen.

Location

Palmer Ort marks the boundary between the Bay of Greifswald and the sound of

Strelasund The Strelasund or Strela Sound is a sound or lagoon of the Baltic Sea which separates Rügen from the German mainland. It is crossed by a road and rail bridge called the Rügendamm in Stralsund. It runs northwest to southeast from a small shallow ...

. On the land side, there is a small coastal defence wood in front of the Palmer Ort. Through it runs a woodland path to the Palmer Ort, part of which is laid out as a

nature trail An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural, techn ...

, "Know Your World" (''Erkenne Deine Welt''). The nearest settlement is the small hamlet of

Grabow Grabow () is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Elde, 7 km (4.35 mi) southeast of Ludwigslust, and 34 km (21.12 mi) northwest of Wittenberge. It ...

, about 1 kilometre to the northeast. At Palmer Ort itself there is a narrow, natural sandy beach which is not often frequented by visitors because of its isolation. Anglers use the beach to fish for

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

. In winter

ice floe An ice floe () is a large pack of floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice floes. They may cau ...

s at the Palmer Ort often pile up to form heaps of ice several metres in height.

Palmer Ort in history

In 1372, a ship with 90

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of ...

s on board sank off the Palmer Ort in a storm. They were travelling on a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

to St. Lawrence's Church on Zudar. There is a story that there had been a painting of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

there, which was said to work miracles, but which disappeared after the disaster.Martin Holz: ''Rügens unbekanntes Land'' ("Rügen's unknown land"),

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...

, 18 February 2005. During the Pomeranian campaign of the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

, Palmer Ort was the scene of hostilities. An invasion fleet of 500 ships from

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

sailed towards Palmer Ort on 11 November 1715. Sweden, to which Rügen belonged, gathered its forces in the area of Palmer Ort. The invasion fleet was fired upon from the Zudar peninsula, but no significant losses occurred. The fleet did not actually intend to land at Palmer Ort, which was strongly held by the Swedes, but could not implement its real plan for the landing, due to unfavourable wind conditions. A few days later, however, much of the fleet put off to the northeast in the fog, unnoticed by the Swedes, and landed unscathed at Groß Stresow. One of the Prussian columns there commemorates this landing. Some ships were left in front of Palmer Ort to continue to feign a landing attempt there.

Palmer Ort as a namesake

In 1968 a

buoy tender A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work. The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...

belonging to the East German navy, the

Volksmarine The ''Volksmarine'' (VM, ; en, People's Navy) was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The ''Volksmarine'' was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coasta ...

, was given the name of ''Palmer Ort''. The town of Stralsund named one of its roads ''Zum Palmer Ort''.

References

{{Coord, 54.22091, N, 13.39331, E, type:landmark_region:DE-MV, display=title, format=dms Bay of Greifswald Geography of Rügen