Palatine Forest Club

1936 walking guide, title page by August Croissant

Ritterstein at the Kohlplatz near Edenkoben

The Palatine Forest Club (German: Pfälzerwald-Verein) is a hiking club in the former Bavarian Palatinate, i.e. the southern part of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland county of Saarpfalz-Kreis. In 2011 it had 221 local branches with around 27,000 members.^[1]

The first branch was founded on 27 November 1902 in Ludwigshafen. Its first chairman was the industrialist, Anton Fasig. After other branches had formed the following year, the umbrella organization was founded in 1903. One of the founding members of the Palatine Forest Club, formed at the initiative of Ludwigshafen railway official, Otto Link, was the Palatine artist, Heinrich Strieffler. Karl Albrecht von Ritter was elected by the founding members as the managing director (Regierungsdirektor). Since 1908 the club has commemorated places of historical or natural significance by erecting and maintained a total of 306 so-called Ritter Stones (Rittersteine) - sandstone boulders with engraved inscriptions.

The head office of the Palatine Forest Club is in the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße. its chairman since 2005 has been Klaus Weichel from Kaiserslautern, and its CEO since 1992 has been Bernd Wallner from Großfischlingen. The club has a 25-man board and 10 districts, maintaining a foundation that supports nature and monument conservation and is a member of the German Ramblers Association. The membership publication of the club since 1902 has been te quarterly magazine, Pfälzerwald. Its youth organisation is called the Deutsche Wanderjugend/ DWJ.

The club maintains around 100 walking huts in the Palatinate and the Saarpfalz regions. Some are only managed at weekends, 17 are hostels with overnight accommodation for walking groups. One of the main tasks of the club, which is a recognized federal nature conservation organisation in Rhineland-Palatinate, is the signing of 12,000 km of walking routes in the Palatine Forest as well as organizing 10,000 annual walking and leisure events.

Walking huts

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  Deidesheimer Hut near Deidesheim
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  Waldhaus Drei Buchen near Ramberg
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  Edenkobener Hut at Hüttenbrunnen in Edenkoben
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  The Grieswald Hut in Thaleischweiler-Fröschen
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  The Hohe Loog Haus at Hambach
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  The Weinbiethaus near Gimmeldingen
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  The Schweizer-Haus near Weyher in der Palatinate
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  The Haus an den Fichten in St. Martin
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  The Heller Hut (Hellerplatzhaus) in Neustadt
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  The Klausental Hut in Diedesfeld
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  The Kalmithaus on the Kalmit, at 673 metres above sea level, is the highest inn of the Palatine Forest
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  The Landauer Hut at Zimmerbrunnen near Dernbach
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  The Forsthaus Schwarzsohl near Frankenstein
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  The Stabenbergwarte on the Stabenberg near Königsbach was, in 1904, the first PWV-erected building.
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  The St. Anna Hut near Burrweiler
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  The Totenkopf Hut near Alsterweiler
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  Hütte in der Weilach near Leistadt
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  The Trifelsblick Hut near Gleisweiler
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  The Weisenheimer Hut at Ungeheuersee in Weisenheim
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  The Peter Schulzen Hut in Erbach
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  The Höcherberghaus by the Höcherberg Tower near Höchen
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  The Gollenstein Hut in Blieskastel
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  The Kahlenberg Hut near Rohrbach
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  The Fritz Claus Hut near Brücken
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  The Gimpelwald Hut near Hornbach
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  The Buchwald Hut near Theisbergstegen
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  The Lemberg Hut near Feilbingert
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  The Mühlberg Hut in Contwig
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  The Wasgau Hut near Schwanheim
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  Wanderheim Dicke Eiche near Hauenstein (Palatinate)
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  Wanderheim Hohe List near Ludwigswinkel
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  The Fritz Claus Hut near Martinshöhe
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  Wanderheim Hoher Fels near Krottelbach
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  The Gustav Köhler Hut on the Kehrberg near Bruchhof
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  The Waldhaus Starkenbrunnen near Pirmasens
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  The Waldhaus Im Himmelreich near Otterbach
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  The Waldhaus Drei Buchen near Lemberg
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  The Hahnberg Hut near Niederauerbach
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  The Zimmerkopf Hut in Heltersberg
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  The Hohenestel Hut near Bedesbach
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  The PWV hut Am Schmalstein near Bruchweiler
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  Im Taufenbachtal hut near Hinzweiler
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  The Waldhaus Lambertskreuz near Lambrecht, built in 1907, is the oldest hut in the PWV
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  The hostel of Fronte Beckers in Germersheim
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  The castle inn near Lemberg
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  The Schleusenhaus in Sondernheim
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  The hut am Entenweiher near Frohnhofen
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  The hut am Sauling near Bosenbach
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  The Hedwig-Helbing-Hütte near Ebernburg
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  The Korbusch Hut near Jettenbach
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  The Igelborner Hut near Winnweiler
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  The Breitenheimer Hut near Breitenheim
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  The Drachenfels Hut near Busenberg
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  The Pfälzerwald-Haus near Kirkel
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  The Heinrich Kohl Hut on the Großer Stiefel near Sengscheid
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  The Steinberg Hut near Oberbexbach
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  The refuge and BBQ hut in der Strütt near Einöllen
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  The Selberg Hut near Rothselberg
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  The PWV hut at Selberg near Rutsweiler
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  The Stockwieser Hut near Höhfröschen
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  The Hollertal Hut near Clausen
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  The Gräfenstein Hut near Merzalben
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  The Fritz Claus Hut near Münchweiler
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  The Faselstall hostel in Trippstadt
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  The Willi Schwab Schutz Hut near Neupotz
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  The PWV club hut in Rülzheim
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  The Bauernwald Hut in Rheinzabern
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  The PWV hostel in Hördt
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  The PWV hut Im Bolig near Dudenhofen
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  The refuge hut of Südpfälzer Rheinauen near Leimersheim
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  The PWV hut near Lohnweiler
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  The Ernst Reichel Hut near Offenbach
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  Im Gemeindewald hut near Ramsen
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  The Steinbacher Hut on the Donnersberg near Steinbach
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  The Kriegsberg Hut near Göllheim
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  The PWV hut in the Nachtweide near Edigheim
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  Waldhaus Auf den Steinen near Gommersheim
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  The Kupferberg Hut near Imsbach
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  The Hohlstein Hut near Münchweiler
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  Auf dem Oberberg hut near Olsbrücken
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  The Wolfsschlucht Hut near Esthal
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  The Waldhaus Schwefelbrunnen near Eisenberg
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  The PWV hut of Im Wasserhaus near Harthausen
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  The Wander- und Jugendheim Taubensuhl near Eußerthal
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  The Karlsplatz Hut near Klingenmünster
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  The refuge Hut am Kaltenbrunnen near Donsieders
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  The Cramerhaus near Lindelbrunn
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  The Göcklinger Hut in the Keschtebusch near Klingenmünster
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  The Pfarrheim Niederschlettenbach
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  The Hilschberghaus near Rodalben
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  The Kirschbaum Hut near Eußerthal
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  The PWV hut of Lug
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  The Waldheim am Rappeneck near Niedersimten
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  The Hirzeck Haus near Erlenbach
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  The PWV hut at Eußerthal
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  Am Weiher hut near Lauterecken
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  Schmied Kurt’s Haisel near Altdorf
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  'Zur Saudell hut near Obernheim-Kirchenarnbach
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  The Pottaschtal Hut or Böchinger Hut near Eußerthal
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  The Walsheimer Hut near Eußerthal
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  The Limburgblick youth hostel near Seebach

References

1. ↑ Mitgliederzeitschrift „Pfälzerwald“,  2

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palatine Forest Club.

• Homepage of the PWV
• Club history