Today I don’t feel like being my typical self. Perhaps this is why I’m going to do things a little differently in the Hessian town of Reichelsheim (Wetterau). I’m going to enjoy the best of each and every village — not just as a whole.
First a bit about the Wetterau. It has seen the likes of Celts, Romans, and the dark days of the Middle Ages, making this Rhine-Main-Lowlands region a historical layer-cake.
Now it’s time to slowly go through each of Reichelsheim’s six villages. Let’s do ’em alphabetical — all in the name of fairness since they’re all fantastic in their own right.
In Beienheim let’s start with a stroll along Berliner Straße, then on Zur Kirche 4 to see the village’s Evangelical Church. For a bit of Germany’s Jewish history you’ll want to see the Jüdische Friedhof (Jewish cemetery) on Wüstengasse.
While Beienheim is the furthest west you can go, Blofeld is the totally opposite direction — the easternmost hamlet. Besides having a forest to get lost in (not literally but metaphorically speaking), you’ll want to walk along the popular Niddaer Straße; stopping on Kirchstraße to see the village’s Evangelical Church.
It’s to the south now to Dorn-Assenheim, a small hamlet of not even five square kilometers. The one spot everyone seems to visit is its St. Mary Magdalene Church.
If you think Dorn-Assenheim was small, wait ’til you get a gander at Heuchelheim, not even a kilometer-and-a-half square. Yeah… that’s tiny, right? So is its Evangelical Church, a tiny chapel looking building that somehow manages to just dominate its little area.
Wonderful things do come in small packages. ;-)
Reichelsheim proper is where we find the town’s Rathaus or Town Hall (Bingenheimer Straße 1), a tidy building with rounded doorways and flower-boxed windows. Right outside is the 19th century Franco-German War Memorial, and down the street is the local church.
Weckesheim is about the same size in area and population as Beienheim — a village of around a thousand people, not even 4.5 sqkm. Care to see its Evangelical Church? You’ll find it on Sommerbachstraße 5, and a small fountain at Sommerbachstraße 3.
What you’ll also be able to see here in Weckesheim is a mining museum. Appropriate since the region was very big on lignite mining.
See all the interesting things you can find out about a place when you meet them individually? Glad I did. ;-)