The community of Isterberg, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

’s district of

Grafschaft Bentheim County of Bentheim (german: Grafschaft Bentheim) is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the districts o ...

, came into being in the 1970s, through the amalgamation of the two former communities of Wengsel and Neerlage. It lies between

Bad Bentheim Bad Bentheim (; nds-nl, Beantem) is a town in the southwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany, in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km ...

and

Nordhorn Nordhorn ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Nothoorn'' (or ''Notthoarn'', ''Netthoarn'' and ''Noordhoorn'')) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the ...

, and is part of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("joint community") of

Schüttorf Schüttorf ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Schüttrup'') is a town in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in southwesternmost Lower Saxony near the Dutch border and the boundary with Westphalia ( North Rhine-Westphalia). The town of Schüttorf forms with ...

(whose administrative seat is in the like-named town). There is no actual village centre. The namesake hill, the Isterberg -- with an elevation of 68 m -- is one of the last outliers of the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...

. There is a local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

(CVJM Isterberg-Quendorf), which serves not only the youth, but also adults and older citizen, as a meeting point. The ''Landjugend'' (“Rural Youth”) is also established in the community; among other activities, it organizes a yearly tent festival that is well-known throughout the former

County of Bentheim The County of Bentheim (''Grafschaft Bentheim'', Low German ''Benthem'') was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the south-west corner of today's Lower Saxony, Germany. The county's borders corresponded largely to those of the modern a ...

. This small community also has its own 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 ...

, which receives wide participation. The farthest outlying portion of the Teutoburg Forest is not to be found right at the Isterberg, but rather in

‘s outlying centre at the center of Gildehaus. On the way out of that centre, on Gronauer Str., going towards the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the forest’s last trees stand. It is supposed, however, that the Teutoburg Forest once stretched all the way to the Fürstlicher Busch (Princely Bush), which lies in the farming community of Bardel. Isterberg also has a no-fee outdoor

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

References

External links

Joint community’s webpage
{{authority control County of Bentheim (district)