Stamping point 7 / Plessenburg inn

History and significance of Plessenburg Castle in the Harz Mountains

Accor­ding to the old sys­tem, Ples­sen­burg Cast­le, which is shown on the map of the coun­ty of Wer­ni­ge­ro­de in 1768, is loca­ted on the Königs­koll forest site. (This name refers to a char­co­al site whe­re fir wood was char­red into char­co­al). Con­s­truc­tion of the Ples­sen­burg hun­ting lodge began on Octo­ber 27, 1775 and was com­ple­ted in time for the hun­ting sea­son in Octo­ber 1776. 

Pleß is a town in Upper Sile­sia which came into the pos­ses­si­on of the Prin­ces of Anhalt-Köthen short­ly befo­re this date. Prin­ce Fried­rich Erd­mann zu Anhalt-Köthen-Pleß mar­ried the Coun­t’s daugh­ter Loui­se Fer­di­nan­de on June 13, 1766. The name Ples­sen­burg refers to this son-in-law. 

In 1880, the kit­chen and staff house was built next to the hun­ting lodge in the local half-tim­be­red style. Ples­sen­burg Cast­le remain­ed in the pos­ses­si­on of Prin­ce Chris­ti­an Ernst zu Stol­berg – Wer­ni­ge­ro­de until 1945. In 1945, the prin­ce sold two thirds of his North Harz forest to the Ilsen­burg forestry admi­nis­tra­ti­on. From 1967 to 1973, the hun­ting lodge was used as a recrea­tio­nal facility. 

On June 25, 1973, Bern­hard and Ruth Krebs ope­ned a restau­rant in the for­mer kit­chen and staff house. In 1980, the hun­ting lodge and the for­mer staff house were joi­n­ed tog­e­ther to crea­te today’s „Ples­sen­burg“ forest inn, which is loca­ted in the heart of the Harz Natio­nal Park and is now run by the second and third generation. 

From Ilsen­burg, fol­low the sign­pos­ted hiking trails through the Ilse Val­ley, but the­re is also a beau­tiful hiking trail from Dar­lin­ge­ro­de or Drü­beck through the Tänn Val­ley to Ples­sen­burg Castle.