Rankmühle (Historic Black Forest Mill)

Wayside cross on Simonswald from 1995.

The Rankmühle is part of the Rankhof. It was not a customer mill, but served to provide the farm with flour from home-grown grain.

The elongated, multi-core village of Simonswald covers almost the entire valley area along the Wilden Gutach that is easy to settle in. Apart from the upper reaches, the valley is called the Simonswald valley. It flows into the Elz valley near Gutach im Breisgau. From here, the town's main street runs upwards for 17 km in the direction of Gütenbach and Furtwangen. The districts of Altsimonswald and Untersimonswald are mostly located at the bottom of the valley at around 300 m above sea level. NN; Haslachsimonswald lies in a side valley. Up the valley along the Wilden Gutach are the districts of Obersimonswald and Wildgutach. Numerous side valleys, some of which are populated, branch off from the main valley to the north-east and south-west. In Obersimonswald the valley narrows and begins to rise towards the south-east towards the heights of the Black Forest. The district of Obersimonswald on the upper reaches of the Wilden Gutach extends to the summit of the Brend (1149.3 m above sea level). The highest elevation is the Kandel (1241.3 m above NHN), at the summit of which the four districts of Waldkirch, Glottertal, St. Peter and Untersimonswald meet.