Melt (Horstwalde)

Around 1750, Count F. G. Heinrich of Baruth established an ironworks to the west of Neuhof (from 1939 Horstwalde) to mine bog iron. In addition, potassium carbonate was produced, which was needed for the production of glass, soap and soda. Around 1758 there was also an iron smelter, with which the bog iron ore could be processed on site. It was made of brick set into the swampy ground on wooden stilts. The bellows were driven by the flow of the hammer flow. There was a blast furnace, a workshop, a furnace house, a water wheel, a coal shed, a locksmith's workshop, a stamp mill and a residential building. Among other things, the bells for Schöbendorf and Horstwalde were produced in the melt. The need for wood in 1765 was 30 fathoms, which was felled by 24 cottagers on so-called wood days. These were Tuesdays and Thursdays when work had to be done in the forest from eight o'clock until sunset. The first documented mention was in the years 1778/1786 as Hoh Ofen.

However, the bog iron stone proved to be not very productive, so that the operation was stopped around 1800 and the plants were dismantled except for the residential buildings. In 1837 three buildings were reported. The name of the place changed in 1854 as Hohenofen or the smelter near Neuhof. In 1871 four people lived in Schmelze. Two years later, the settlement appeared as a forestry establishment Schmelze, in which 36 people were already living in 1885. In 1895 the establishment consisted of two houses with 32 people; in 1905 there were 30, in 1925 only 13 people. The forest establishment came to the rural community of Neuhof in 1929 and was a residential area for Horstwalde from 1957. The remaining residential building burned down and was demolished after 1948.

In 2023, only a few cinder blocks and fruit trees are reminiscent of the settlement. The Horstwalde village community has erected a shelter with an information board at the site to commemorate the historic site.

Source de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmelze_(Horstwalde)

Translated by Google •

Thomas

April 7, 2023

From here you can go in 3 directions. Across the Hammerfliess to Horstmühle and Lynow, east across fields to Horstwalde or west through the magnificent Eichenbruch to Schönefeld.

Translated by Google •

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Elevation 50 m

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Wednesday 8 October

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Location: Baruth/Mark, Teltow-Fläming, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Brandenburg, Germany

Schmelze Memorial Shelter (Horstwalde)

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