Friedrichshütte Copper Smelter and Historic Stone Marker

Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Kassel (* 1676 Kassel, † 1751 Stockholm), who was also King of Sweden since 1720 through his marriage to the Swedish heir to the throne, had the Friedrichshütte near Iba built as a copper smelting plant in 1732. A boundary stone at the rear entrance with the initials FR for Fridericus Rex “King Friedrich” still bears witness to this today. The copper was melted out of the copper slate of the Richelsdorf Mountains in the furnaces for around 150 years. At the end of the 19th century the era came to an end, the building stood empty and was in danger of falling into disrepair. In 1919, master miller Ludwig Trieselmann from Weiterode bought the property and, just a year later, was running the Friedrichshütte as a restaurant and excursion destination. Unfortunately, the traditional restaurant has been closed since 2015. The black and white photo shows the hut on its 200th anniversary in 1932.

The Friedrichshütte is a copper smelter near Iba that is over 275 years old.
It was shut down in 1886.
The building is privately owned; worth seeing is a path stone decorated with many stone carvings in the garden of the property.
The Brothers Grimm often stayed at the Friedrichshütte, which is where the fairy tale “The Smart People” is said to have originated.