Schneppenbach is an ''

Ortsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically compose ...

'' – a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

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- ...

'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

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 ...

. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde''

Kirner Land Kirner Land is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the district of Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' is in Kirn. It was formed on 1 January 2020 by the merger of the former ''Verban ...

, whose seat is in the town of

Kirn Kirn is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a middle centre serving an area on the Nahe and in the Hunsrück. Geography Location Kirn lies in a la ...

Geography

Location

Schneppenbach lies in the southern

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

on the western edge of the

Lützelsoon The Lützelsoon (also called the Kleiner Soon) is a part of the Hunsrück hills, , in the county of Bad Kreuznach, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Location The Lützelsoon is a hill ridge southwest of the Soonwald range and north of ...

ridge and east of (above) the Hahnenbach valley. The nearest major towns are

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...

(17 km to the south-southwest) and

Simmern Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...

(17 km to the north-northeast). Schneppenbach sits at an elevation of 424 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

Neighbouring municipalities

Clockwise from the north, Schneppenbach's neighbours are the municipalities of

Woppenroth Woppenroth is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kir ...

, which lies in the neighbouring

Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district (german: Kreis) in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Lahn, Mainz-Bingen, Bad Kreuznach, Birkenfeld, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Coc ...

Bruschied Bruschied is an ''Ortsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verba ...

, which lies in the Bad Kreuznach district, and

Bundenbach Bundenbach is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-Rhau ...

, which lies in the neighbouring

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde''. The town itself has approximately 7,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

district.

History

From the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

, Schneppenbach belonged to a major landhold of Saint Maximin's Imperial Abbey at

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

. The 2,742-hectare landhold comprised, besides the centres of Blickersau and Kaffeld, which later vanished, the villages of

, Schneppenbach,

and the main centre and parish seat of Hausen bei Rhaunen. Until the 18th century, Schneppenbach was administratively tightly bound with the

Schmidtburg The Schmidtburg is a ruined hill castle next to Schneppenbach ( Hunsrück) in Germany. The castle was built up in 926, and was destroyed during the War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Gran ...

(

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 ...

), which nowadays stands within the village's municipal limits. The castle, whose beginnings go back at least as far as 929, and possibly as far as 926, is one of the oldest in the Nahe-

region and is believed to have been the family seat of the Counts in the

Nahegau The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Worms ...

, the

Emichones The Emichones (german: Emichonen) were an early medieval family in the southwestern German region. Its members were counts (''Gaugrafen'') in the Nahegau, perhaps as undercounts of the Salian dynasty. The conventional name Emichones is due to the p ...

. Their coheirs and rightful successors, the

Waldgrave The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves (Latin: ''comites silvestres'') descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113. When the (a countship named after the river Nahe) split into two parts in 1113 ...

s, owned the castle in the 12th and 13th centuries. Internal Waldgravial family disputes, however, resulted in ownership being transferred about 1330 to Archbishop and Elector of Trier

Baldwin of Luxembourg Baldwin of Luxembourg (c. 1285 – 21 January 1354) was the Archbishop- Elector of Trier and Archchancellor of Burgundy from 1307 to his death. From 1328 to 1336, he was the diocesan administrator of the archdiocese of Mainz and from 1331 to 13 ...

. Under Baldwin, the castle was expanded, and in the time that followed, it became the seat of the Electoral-Trier ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' of Schmidtburg. While

was the only village in the ''Amt'' that stood wholly under Electoral-Trier sovereignty,

and Schneppenbach formed a

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

and belonged jointly to the Electorate of Trier and the Knights of Wildberg. When the ''Amt'' of Schmidtburg was pledged to the Electoral-Trier ''

Amtmann __NOTOC__ The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff. He was the most seni ...

'' Nikolaus von Schmidtburg sometime before 1554, he temporarily introduced

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

. By 1626, though, the villages had reverted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In 1563, there were nine households in Schneppenbach, five in 1684 and eleven in 1715 that belonged to the Electoral-Trier ''Amt'' of Schmidtburg. About 1650, records show that the local lord was the knight Sir Cratz von Scharffenstein. Schneppenbach formed together with

an ''Ingericht'' (local court district). The two villages' inhabitants only owned one

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 ...

, and attended the main services in

. In 1794, during the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...

, the German lands on the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

's left bank were occupied by the French, and in 1798, the region was reorganized on the French administrative model by the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and r ...

. With this French administrative reform, the ''Amt'' of Schmidtburg was dissolved. Schneppenbach passed to the then newly founded ''Mairie'' ("Mayoralty") of Kirn in the

Arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...

of Simmern and the

Department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Rhin-et-Moselle Rhin-et-Moselle (; ) was a department of the First French Republic and First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was named after the rivers Rhine and Moselle. It was formed in 1797, when the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by France. Unti ...

, remaining there for the rest of

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

ary and

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

ic times. Then, in 1817, it passed to the ''Bürgermeisterei'' ("Mayoralty") of Gemünden in the

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 em ...

n Simmern district. In the course of administrative restructuring in

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Schneppenbach was assigned to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirn-Land.

Jewish history

For information about Schneppenbach's former small

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish community, which was bound with the one in

Hennweiler Hennweiler is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land, who ...

, see the Jewish history section in that article.

Criminal history

Like many places in the region, Schneppenbach can claim to have had its dealings with the notorious outlaw

Schinderhannes Johannes Bückler (c.1778 – 21 November 1803) was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most famous crime sprees in German history. He has been nicknamed Schinderhannes and Schinnerhannes in German and John the Scorcher, John the Flaye ...

(or Johannes Bückler, to use his true name). On 25 February 1799 at five o'clock in the morning, the

Gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

raided the ''Budzliese-Amie'', a house nestled in rustic charm in Schneppenbach, and there managed to arrest Schinderhannes. The miller at the ''Römermühle'' had given the authorities the "hot tip". The event is commemorated in

Carl Zuckmayer Carl Zuckmayer (27 December 1896 – 18 January 1977) was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer. Life and career Born in Nackenheim in Rhenish Hesse, he was t ...

's play ''

'' in the song "Schinderhanneslied": "''Im Schneppenbacher Forste, da geht der Teufel rumdibum...''".Statistische Mappen, Verbandsgemeinde Kirn-Land, 2009.

Population development

Schneppenbach's population development since

ic times is shown in the table below. The figures for the years from 1871 to 1987 are drawn from census data:Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz – Regionaldaten
/ref>

Religion

Most of Schneppenbach's inhabitants are

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The Catholic church community belongs to the parish of Saint

Francis Xavier Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December 1 ...

(''St. Franz Xaver'') in

and is administered by the Oberhausen parish office. The

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

inhabitants are tended from Gemünden. As at 31 January 2014, there are 253 full-time residents in Schneppenbach, and of those, 49 are

(19.368%), 174 are

(68.775%), 1 (0.395%) belongs to another religious group and 29 (11.462%) either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might in English

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

language be described thus: Vert an arming buckle Or studded with eight roundels, four gules and four azure alternately, between two lozenges argent, on a chief of the fifth a cross of the third. The cross in

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

is a reference to the village's former allegiance to the

Electorate of Trier The Electorate of Trier (german: Kurfürstentum Trier or ' or Trèves) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince- ...

. The buckle refers to the Family Schenk von Schmidtburg, whose painted coat of arms can be seen at the

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 ...

State Archive (Abt. 54 S Nr. 226). The lozenges stand for the village's former

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

industry. The

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

in the main field, vert (green), stands for the village's wealth of woodland. Municipal council gave the graphic artist Brust from

Kirn-Sulzbach Kirn-Sulzbach (also: ''Kirnsulzbach'') is a ''Ortsteil, Stadtteil'' of Kirn in the Bad Kreuznach (district), district of Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. See also * :de:Kirn-Sulzbach, Kirn-Sulzbach in German Language References

the task of designing a municipal coat of arms. At a council meeting on 13 August 1971, council adopted the design that had been put forth. After consent by the state archive, the Ministry of the Interior in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

granted approval for Schneppenbach to bear its own arms on 8 October 1981. The municipal banner also bears this coat of arms in the centre.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in

's Directory of Cultural Monuments: Schnep-ro-kapelle

* Saint John the Baptist's

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 ...

(''Kirche St. Johannes der Täufer''), Hauptstraße 39 – Late Baroque

aisleless church An aisleless church (german: Saalkirche) is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated fro ...

, 1768, architect Johann Thomas Petri * Schmidtburg castle ruin (monumental zone),Landkreis Bad Kreuznach: Inhaltsverzeichnis des Kreisrechtes
, retrieved 31 October 2011. above the Hahnenbach valley – destroyed in 1689; upper bailey: ''

palas A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval ''Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson, ...

'' with

staircase tower A staircase tower or stair tower (german: Treppenturm, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a tower-like wing of a building with a circular or polygonal plan that contains a stairwell, usually a helical staircase. History Only a few e ...

reaching up to second-floor height, after 1328; lower bailey: scant remnants; between baileys a

neck ditch A neck ditch (german: Halsgraben), sometimes called a throat ditch,
at www.roadstoruins.com. Accessed on 3 Jan 2012. is a dry

and a three-arch bridge

More about buildings

The

in Schneppenbach, which stands under monumental protection, was built in 1768 by the

Salm-Kyrburg Salm-Kyrburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire located in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, one of the various partitions of Salm. It was twice created: the first time as a Wild- and Rhinegraviate (partitioned from Upper Salm), and se ...

court master builder Johann Thomas Petri, whose plans also yielded many lordly buildings dating from the 18th century in the

area. The Schmidtburg

ruin is considered Schneppenbach's foremost landmark and is one of the biggest of the Rhenish castle complexes, and also one of the most important cultural monuments. After excavations and shoring-up work on the ruin that had been almost thoroughly overgrown, visitors now have a clear picture of the imposing complex's size and former importance. Up above the village, at 568 m and right next to the legendary Teufelsfels ("Devil's Crag") stands a lookout tower bearing the same name as this

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...

in the Lützelsoon. The Herrenberg Slate Quarry has since 1976 been a

show mine A mine, i.e. an industrial facility for the underground extraction of mineral commodities, has three operating phases: it may be open or running, or closed or it may be a working museum. Most mines are simply closed once they are no longer producti ...

with a

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

. Also found in Schneppenbach is a La Tène-era

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 ...

heights settlement called the Altburg.

Natural monuments

Schneppenbach is home to the still largely untouched, wild Hahnenbach valley, through which leads a water adventure path.

Speech

The local people speak the Hunsrück

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

with a

Moselle Franconian __NOTOC__ Moselle Franconian (german: Moselfränkisch, lb, Muselfränkesch) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian dialects, Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. It is spoken in the southe ...

character. The village lies, along with the neighbouring ones, just north of a well known

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an language boundary, the so-called Das-Dat line, south of which people speak

Rhine Franconian __NOTOC__ Rhenish Franconian or Rhine Franconian (german: Rheinfränkisch ) is a dialect chain of West Central German. It comprises the varieties of German spoken across the western regions of the states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, north ...

. One particular legacy from the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

is a number of deviations from

Standard High German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

in the realm of

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

, with forms such as ''die Bach'' (feminine, but usually ''der Bach'', masculine) and ''der Butter'' (masculine, but usually ''die Butter'', feminine) cropping up, which have preserved the state of the language in

Walther von der Vogelweide Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170c. 1230) was a Minnesänger who composed and performed love-songs and political songs (" Sprüche") in Middle High German. Walther has been described as the greatest German lyrical poet before Goethe; his hundr ...

's time. A number of French

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

s can also be found in the local speech, having been adopted in

ary and

ic times. These include ''Scheeslong'' ("

sofa A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, or chesterfield, is a cushioned item of furniture for seating multiple people (although it is not uncommon for a single person to use a couch alone). It is commonly found in the form of a bench with uph ...

", from ''

chaise longue A chaise longue (; , "long chair") is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs of the sitter. In modern French the term ''chaise longue'' can refer to any long reclining chair such as a deckchair. A ...

''), ''Trottwa'' ("

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick ...

", from ''trottoir'') and ''Portmonnee'' ("wallet", from ''porte-monnaie''). Words with French elements include ''Bobbeschees'' (standard: ''Puppenwagen''; "

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

's pram") and ''Kinnerschees'' (standard: ''Kinderwagen''; "pram"), with the last syllable from French ''chaise'' ("chair") in each case.

Clubs

The following clubs are active in Schneppenbach: *''Spielvereinigung Teufelsfels'' — gaming union *''Freiwillige Feuerwehr Schneppenbach'' — volunteer

fire brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

*''Hunsrücklerchen'' — "Hunsrück Larks" singing club *''Fischerei- und Naturschutzverein'' — fishing and conservation club *''Musikverein "Edelweiß" Schneppenbach'' — music club

Folklore

The local

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

includes an old story supposedly still told by the elderly inhabitants of the villages at the foot of the Lützelsoon:

Not a very long time ago, a few forestry workers were busying themselves planting oaks when one of them brought to light a gold belt with his hoe. When he grasped it and tried to put it in his bag, the gold coins fell out of the gold belt and every last one rolled down the slope without his getting hold of even one. In a hollow on the north side of the "Fat Stone", he saw them disappear. All efforts to open up the spot with his hoe, though, came to naught, and he could not reach any of the gold coins. The thought of this wad of money, his "treasure", however, the forestry worker would not give up. Eventually he resolved to set an explosive charge at the spot to reach the treasure. On a moonlit night, he put his plan into action. The explosion was successful, blowing away part of the "Fat Stone". He thought his wish was about to be fulfilled, but at the spot where he had seen the gold disappear, he found nothing, and thus all his work had been for nothing. He sought further for the treasure, but as long and hard as he looked throughout the rest of his life, he found no trace of it. On the north side, the hiker can still see the spot where the golddigger used explosives in his vain attempt. Perhaps some hiker's luck will be good, and he will find the mysterious treasure, and recover it and take it away.Folklore
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For another folktale about the Teufelsfels, see

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Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Running through Schneppenbach is ''

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'') are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads t ...

'' 184. This leads north to ''Landesstraße'' 162, and both roads then lead to ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

'' 421. To the south, ''Landesstraße'' 184 links with ''Landesstraße'' 182, which leads to

. Serving that town is a

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 ...

on the

Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway (german: Nahetalbahn) is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the ...

( Bingen–

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

). The travel time on the hourly

Regionalexpress In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at ...

trains to Saarbrücken is 1 hour and 10 minutes, while Mainz can be reached in just under an hour. Every other train to and from

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 ...

also runs through to

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

Famous people

Famous people associated with the municipality

* Johann Thomas Petry (or Petri; d. 1799 in Schneppenbach), German master builder

References

External links

Municipality's official webpage

Schneppenbach in the collective municipality's webpages
{{Authority control Bad Kreuznach (district)