Meßstetten


Meßstetten is a town in the Zollernalbkreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Swabian Jura, 24 km southeast of Balingen. It is close to the Heuberg Training Area with the Lager Heuberg. Within the Heuberg Training Area there is the legendary Dreibannmarke, also called the "Bahn", a 17th-century border, which today marks the border between three different municipalities, formerly in the three states of Württemberg, Baden, and Hohenzollern. The meadow at the Dreibannmarke served as a stopping place for traveling merchants, wagons and craftsmen. With care it is possible to identify traces of the border. After the inauguration of the firing ranges, a meadow in Meßstetten was allocated as a camping site at the edge of the restricted area. Until 1835 merchandise was smuggled over the customs borders guarded by local hunters. Coffee smuggler Haux had was killed on 21 July 1831 in Pfaffental.
The local economy mixes agriculture with services and small-scale industry. Most of Meßstetten today has a residential character with many citizens working in the highly industrial areas of Albstadt or in Balingen. Only in Tieringen is an industrial area. A blacksmith developed to an industrial character, also a textile firm.

Sister cities

The following religions are present in Meßstetten:
On 11 May 1525 the priest of Digisheim blessed the army in the German Peasants' War.

Food and drink

On this day the townhall is in the hands of the Fasnetsnarren.
In Meßstetten the carnival play
"Müllers Schuh im Mehlkasten" is historical.The Heuberg Training Area was criticized in the construction phase.
"Funkenfeuer/Spark-Fire" is historical.
In 2018 the ladies of the Royal Harem and Scheich Schrofti citicized the Police School in the construction phase.
An old historical "freier Markt" is in the near Oberndorf am Neckar, also in Rottweil. During Fasnet the famous Fasnet-Küchle are made. Persons come with "Affagsichter" and "Schnitzbuckel" In 2017 was a big event in Hartheim. All roads were closed for over five hours. Sitting Bull had big problems to put in the faucet to get the first beer
In 2020 the assault gun fell out because of a barrel burst.

Mining

In former times iron ore was mined on the Heuberg. Fidel Eppler was the name of the mine inspector. The buttress wood was bought in Truchtelfingen and used by Lautlingen miners at the Hörnle area.
In Oberdigisheim Geppert in 1738 SHW-Ludwigsthal produced iron ore.
From an old 3.5 km mine in an ooidal iron ore seam in Weilheim is wood in the Tuttlinger Fruchtkasten.
Steel was produced in Tuttlingen by the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke in Ludwigstal, which produces now iron brakes.
In Meßstetten-Michelfeld sand was found in an old arm of Danube. Christian Kiesinger father of Kurt Georg Kiesinger had a factory. Ooidal iron ore was found. After the Franco-Prussian War the mining was stopped.
Jet work,was called Beinschnitzen.

Mountain

The mountain range is protected as Upper Danube Nature Park, and is a popular tourist destination, especially for hiking, camping, mountaineering, horse back riding, mountain biking, skiing and snowboarding. The Schwäbischer Albverein and the Naturschutzbund Deutschland Alb Guides made many tours. The Schwäbische-Alb-Nordrand-Weg is a long distance way. The most famous is the Hossinger Leiter. It is an old way to the Tübingen–Sigmaringen railway from Hossingen and Oberdigisheim.

Smuggling until 1835

smuggling across the borderin Meßstetten to,from Meßsteten- Heinstetten, Straßberg

Danube tour guides

Smuggler used caves in Meßstetten and Hossingen. Bibles of Martin Luther, coffee, corn and steel was smuggled. In 1831 smuggler Haux shoot dead on the path.
In the book Via Bologna a murder is on the secret path to the smuggler cave, today a hiking way.

Graves

Fruit Trees

To help people to help themselves Württemberg plant an alley of trees..
Hossingen Parkplatz Oberbuch
Meßstetten Unterdigisheim Alte Landstraße Obedigisheim
The tree farms of Wilhelm and the Brüdergemeinde delivered for free.

Butterflies

On 7 July 2017 permission was specially granted by the Regierungspräsidium Karlsruhe for everybody to catch butterflies in Hossingen Rastplatz Oberbuch. It was called Schmetterlingsnacht. The idea was born at the Schwäbischer Albverein in Hossingen. The state action: Dr. Robert Trusch, Dipl.-Biol, zentrale Landesdatenbank Schmetterlinge, State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe, Entomologische Abteilung.
Herbert Fuchs was the leader of the training course.

Legends

Wangen

Places now lost are remembered in legend. A town called "Wangen" between Hossingen and Meßstetten has now disappeared. An as-yet undiscovered Celtic town of Pyrene was mentioned in ancient sources. The identification of Pyrene would bring special honor to researchers, since it is the oldest town in the Upper Danube region known from written sources.
The locality "Neu-Wangenhausen", mentioned in a document from 1477, could be no other place in the district.
The microtoponyms of the mountaintop "Weng" in the Heuberg Training Area and "Wangen" by the radar installation Weichenwang are in common use.

Antiquities

During the construction of a drainage ditch Alfred Ludwig Oetinger, pastor in Meßstetten und Hossingen from 1856 to 1868, discovered a bronze cauldron and potsherds near the Weichenwang. To the great derision of the workmen he secured the finds and forwarded them for scientific evaluation. Around 1850 the area was a frequent target of grave robbers.
The pastor then carried out systematic excavations, first on his own, and later on behalf of the "Staatssammlung vaterländischer Alterthümer". The investigators documented unique finds of Celtic wagon burials with preserved wooden pieces and jeweled harness fittings. In 1869 it was impossible to exactly date the finds. Without evidence a very extensive, but short-lived, settlement was postulated at the time of the burials.

Hemmadhäddler

An old story talks about the Hemmadhäddlers, which are said to appear at certain times. A bold teamster from Tieringen was driving an empty wagon over the Weichenwang to Baienberg with a group of men from Hausen am Tann. At midnight he chanced to invoke the Hemmadhäddlers. All passengers survived the encounter with the apparitions, but they had to cut the traces of the skittish horses and abandon the wagon stuck in the deep loam.

Schimmelreiter's secret love-affair

Another old tale tells of a spectral rider on a white horse, who secretly visited his lover on the Weichenwang. Many times in stormy autumn weather a Schimmelreiter is said to be seen riding toward the Weichenwang from the old castle of Burtel near Hossingen, the remains of which are visible today. Regarding the couple, there was a recorded relationship between a knight and the daughter of the lord of the castle, whose homes are said to be the castles of Hossingen and Tierburg. In 1898, Emil Schweizer included a version of this story in his article on the Balingen Mountains. More vague evidence occurs in an old document: the noble knight Kunz acquired a castle in Meßstetten on July 14, 1327, from the Lord of Bubenhofen. It may be that lord of Castle Hossingen in financial difficulties so that he had to pawn his fiefdom to the rich lord of Bubenhofen. Perhaps the Schimmelreitier was Kunz, from Neuentierberg Castle, and had he acquired for his beloved her father's castle in Hossingen.

Notable people

The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Meßstetten.