Păltiniș is a commune in

Botoșani County Botoșani County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia (encompassing a few villages in neighbouring Suceava County from Bukovina to the west as well), with the county seat at Botoșani. Demographics As of 1st of December 20 ...

Western Moldavia Western Moldavia (, ''Moldova de Apus'', or , also known as Moldavia, is the core historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1878, the P ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It is composed of four villages: Cuzlău, Horodiștea, Păltiniș, and Slobozia. The commune is located in the northern part of the county, on the border with Ukraine. Horodiștea village is situated at 48º15'N; this is the northernmost point in Romania.

Sights

A small cluster of century-old oak trees (dating approximately from the second half of the 15th century) is located in the neighboring forest of Teioasa, about northwest of Păltiniș. The original cluster was composed of four oak trees. The trees formed a rectangle with its corners roughly pointing at the main

cardinal points The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths ( clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The four ...

. Three of these oak trees were still standing as recently as 2005; the fourth was still standing in 1999, but was later removed; by then it had been severely damaged by disease. The trees are at least tall. The trees are locally known as "Stejarii lui Ștefan cel Mare" (

Stephen the Great Stephen III, better known as Stephen the Great (; ; died 2 July 1504), was List of rulers of Moldavia, Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II of Moldavia, Bogdan II, who was murdered in ...

's Oak Trees). They roughly mark the halfway point on the route between

Suceava Suceava () is a Municipiu, city in northeastern Romania. The seat of Suceava County, it is situated in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Bukovina and Western Moldavia, Moldavia, northeastern Romania. It is the largest urban ...

(Stephen's seat) and the Hotin Fortress (

Khotyn Khotyn (, ; , ; see #Name, other names) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of th ...

, near Kamyanets-Podilskyi, Ukraine). Hotin was the strongest fort on the northern border of medieval

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

. Local lore states Stephen the Great stopped over at least once at this forest location; on one particular occasion four acorns were planted "at the corners of Stephen's table", from which acorns the trees ensued. An undated water well can be found nearby.

Natives

* Doxachi Hurmuzachi (1782–1857), ethnic Romanian boyar from the Duchy of Bukovina

References

Communes in Botoșani County Localities in Western Moldavia Populated places on the Prut Extreme points of Romania {{Botoşani-geo-stub