Wolfgarten is a village in the north of the borough of

Schleiden Schleiden is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the Eifel hills, in the district of Euskirchen, and has 12,998 inhabitants as of 30 June 2017. Schleiden is connected by a tourist railway to Kall, on the Eifel Railway between Col ...

in the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

mountains in the county of

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted to ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

. The village has a population of about 195.

Location

Wolfgarten lies in the Kermeter, a hill ridge in the North Eifel within the Eifel National Park. Among the larger streams here are the ''Lorbach'' and ''Großer Böttenbach'', which rise north-northwest and north of the village and flow into the

Urft Reservoir The Urft Dam (german: Urfttalsperre) is a 58.50 metre high dam in the southwestern part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was built in 1905. The dam impounds the River Urft in the district of Euskirchen to create the Urft Reser ...

to the west, and the ''Eselsbach'', which rises east of the settlement and empties into the eastward-flowing Rotbach. On the southeastern edge of the village on the highest (unnamed) point of the Kermeter () is the old Wolfgarten fire watchtower, which was used as a

viewing tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and ...

until it collapsed in a fire on 13 June 2017. On the northeastern and eastern edge are the forester's lodges of ''Mariawald'' and ''Wolfgarten'' respectively.

History

Wolfgarten was founded around 1470 as an emphyteutic estate (''Erbpachthof'') under the suzerainty of

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...

, and is the place of origin of the family of Wolfgarten, who also spell their name "Wolffgarten". In the early 19th century, Wolfgarten belonged to the French-occupied ''

mairie In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

'' of Gemünd. In accordance with § 9 of the 1971 Aachen Act, the village was incorporated into the new borough of Schleiden on 1 January 1972.

Transport

The L 249 runs through Wolfgarten. Its nearest motorway junctions are ''Bad Münstereifel / Mechernich'' on the A 1 and ''Aachen-Lichtenbusch'' on the A 44.

References

External links

Panoramic view from the fire tower
{{Authority control Euskirchen (district)