Historic Old Country Road (Gams–Wildhaus)

historical old country road, Wildhaus - Gams
WILDHAUS/GAMS. A section of the old Gams-Wildhaus road has been signposted with brown signposts for years. The signage has now been completed from Brüggli (Wildhaus) to Simmisteg (Gams). Appropriate information boards have been put up.
The local historian Noldi Kessler wrote the relevant text: “The Gams-Wildhaus road, the only developed pass crossing from the Rhine Valley to Toggenburg, has existed since 1830. To finance the costly undertaking, travel charges were levied on it until 1848. The names Alter Zoll and Zollhaus are reminiscent of this. However, a mule track already existed a thousand years ago. It was initially only of local importance for cattle drives, but then acquired strategic importance in the High Middle Ages under the Lords of Sax and became an important stage of a pilgrimage route with the beginning of the hermitage pilgrimage. Until the Reformation, it also served the Wildhausers as a church route down to the mother parish of Gams.
The economic importance of the path for salt and goods transport as well as its military value should not be overestimated, as it was partly poorly paved and could not be used by wagons.
Text / Source: tagblatt.ch
tagblatt.ch/ostschweiz Werdenberg-obertoggenburg/unterwegs-auf-einer-geschichteren-landstrasse-ld.981458

The historically valuable, old country road between Gams and Wildhaus is the only pass crossing from the Rhine Valley to Toggenburg. The paved road has been around since 1830. Before that, however, a narrow mule track ran here for around 1,000 years.