Stamp point 222 / Wettelrode mining nature trail

The Wettelrode mining nature trail is directly adjacent to the open-air site of the Röhrigschacht show mine.

The Röhrig shaft with its strik­ing land­mark, one of the old­est steel shaft wind­ing frames in Europe, is locat­ed in the mid­dle of the his­toric min­ing land­scape of the south-east­ern Harz fore­land. The show mine was opened in 1991, where vis­i­tors can descend 283 m into the shaft on an orig­i­nal shaft wind­ing sys­tem. A mine train then takes them over 1,000 m into a 19th cen­tu­ry min­ing field, where the devel­op­ment of min­ing from its begin­nings to mod­ern times is demon­strat­ed and explained using exhibits. 

The approx. 4 km long min­ing nature trail is designed as a cir­cu­lar route and pro­vides a unique insight into the devel­op­ment of cop­per slate min­ing in the old min­ing dis­trict of Sanger­hausen. This makes it a valu­able addi­tion to the Röhrigschacht Min­ing Museum. 

The vil­lage of Wet­tel­rode was first men­tioned in a doc­u­ment in the 9th cen­tu­ry. The vil­lage is char­ac­ter­ized by a large num­ber of small farm­steads with hous­es, sta­bles and barns. In addi­tion to their work in the mine, the min­ers also ran a small farm to pro­vide for themselves. 

The sign­post­ed edu­ca­tion­al min­ing trail begins at the park­ing lot in front of the Röhrigschacht, which also part­ly leads over the karst hik­ing trail. The stamp box is locat­ed near the repli­ca of an under­ground sit­u­a­tion of the old min­ing indus­try in the 14. — 15th century.

 

N51.52038 E11.27694