Stamping point 169 / Molkenhaus

The Molkenhaus (528 m above sea level) is located in the Harz National Park in a forest clearing by the Hasselteich pond between Bad Harzburg and the Eckertalsperre reservoir.

The first whey house was built in 1665 by the bailiff Hein­rich von Uslar. It served as a dor­mi­to­ry for the cowherds of the sur­round­ing pastures. 

In 1822, a wood­en house was built at Has­sel­te­ich, where the cat­tle from the sur­round­ing pas­tures were milked with­out hav­ing to dri­ve them to dis­tant farms.

In 1883, the farmer Otto Reuß takes over the whey house, which has since been moved to the Has­sel­bach. The pas­ture­land is used by a herd of pure-bred brown Harz cows. The devel­op­ment of the region with the Braun­schweig — Bad Harzburg rail­road line boosts tourism and the Molken­haus becomes an inn on the way to the Brock­en. Hik­ers are treat­ed to thick milk, sug­ar, cin­na­mon and dry bread. 

In 1891, Otto Reuß devel­oped the house into the most famous hotel guest­house in the Harz Moun­tains, pro­mot­ed win­ter sports and start­ed feed­ing game. In 1973, after so many years of use, the facil­i­ties of the house no longer met the demands of the guests. The for­mer land­lord fam­i­ly left the Molken­haus and the prop­er­ty was burned down on Decem­ber 15, 1973 by order of the forestry administration. 

In 1976, today’s Molken­haus hik­ing sta­tion was built north of the Has­sel pond and, fol­low­ing a change of own­er­ship and exten­sive ren­o­va­tions in 2007, is now a pop­u­lar hik­ing and excur­sion destination.

Park­ing is avail­able at the large park­ing lot in Bad Harzburg, right off Fed­er­al High­way 4 toward Torfhaus. From there, you’ll have to decide whether to hike up the Burg­berg or take the cable car up the 150 meters in ele­va­tion. From the moun­tain sta­tion, wide hik­ing trails lead to the Molken­haus and on to the Raben­klippe (HWN 170), the Cross of the Ger­man East (HWN 122 ), and the “Aus­sichtre­ich” (HWN 121). Dur­ing the sea­son, the Wald­bus 875 also runs to the Molkenhaus. 

The short­est route leads from the park­ing lot above the Radau water­fall via the Rudolf­sklippe up a steep incline to the Molkenhaus.