Start / Finish: Altwustrow
Length / Duration: 5 kilometers / about 1 hour
arrival / departure
- Arrival: From Berlin Hauptbahnhof take the S75 (Wartenberg) to Berlin-Lichtenberg. From there take the RB25 to Werneuchen and then bus 887 to Leuenberg (approx. 1,5 hours).
- Check out: From Strausberg take the S5 (Spandau) to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (approx. 1 hour).
Description
The manageable route on old field paths - two kilometers, a total of 4,5 kilometers on a circular route - through the fields between the towns offers visitors an easy and convenient way to visit the other town on foot or by bike.
Ten illustrated information boards present the two Oderbruch villages in more detail using legends, traditions and their special history. Each board contains a graphic representation of the one-hour hiking and walking trail with the respective location - each marked with a red dot.
Neulietzegöricke - Oldest colonist village in the Oderbruch with pub, church, grocery store, club and colonist café
Neulietzegöricke was founded in 1753 as the first colonist village after the Oderbruch was drained by the Prussian King Frederick II.
It was built within a year according to plans by the architect Johann Friedrich Christiani as a street village with two parallel paved streets, in the middle of which was a drainage ditch. The excavation of this ditch served to raise the building sites for the settlers' houses.
56 families from Poland, Württemberg, Austria, and central and southern Germany settled in large, medium and small settlements in the 900-meter-wide and 47-meter-long village green. The historic village complex has been a listed building since 1976.
A major fire destroyed large parts of the village in 1832, and the school, the former village pub and the church, which was centrally located on the village green, also burned down. In 835, the village pub was built with a basement residential and guest house in half-timbered construction with a stable, washhouse and entrance barn, and in 1920 the hall building was built. Since the DEFA film "Salt, Bread and Good Mood" was shot in the village in 1978, the village pub has been called "Zum Feuchten Willi".
The new church was consecrated in 1840 as a late classicist religious building. In the past, the "Welsche Loch" was located here, where a particularly large number of catfish were caught. The bricks for the church were fired in the village itself. The classicist interior has been preserved to this day. The half-timbered building with a facade made of plastered brickwork was extensively renovated in 2010/2011. The rectory no. 85 was completed in 1865 as a rectory apartment.
The school building was built around 1909 with a classroom and teacher's apartment. In 1972, school operations in Neulietzegöricke were discontinued and the schoolroom was converted into a store (today number 30). It was also used as a community center. The popular Kolonisten-Kaffee has been located here since 2014.
The Colonists' Club was founded here in 2020. Among other things, the association wants to intensify cultural life and further research the history of the place.
Altwustrow - Welcome, hikers in the former fishing village of Altwustrow!
Altwustrow was once surrounded by a fairly regular circular settlement. There were 13 farms. Later (1811/12) this circular shape was broken and the meadow was extended to the church built in 1789. To the north is the former inn (built in 1828) and next to it the former blacksmith's workshop (1845). The innkeeper was also a blacksmith.
The land of Wustrow im Burche, as the place was called long before the Oderbruch was drained around 1750, has been inhabited for at least 3.000 years. Grave finds from the Bronze Age are that old.
The name Wustrow can be translated as "island" because the old Wustrow residents were mostly of Wendish descent. They lived from fishing and cattle breeding. In addition to wild birds, the waters were full of crabs and fish. The abundance of aquatic and marsh animals in this marshland was incredible. Turtles were also caught in large numbers. In 1709, a seal even strayed into the area.
The people of Wustrow had long preserved their old customs and peculiarities in their isolation. These included Hänseling and Kawent beer. The young lads formed a secret society, the "Hänsel Brotherhood". The home-brewed Kawent beer was made from crushed malt.
Since 2006, there have been regular storks in the village. As so-called eastern migrants, they only return from Africa at the end of March/beginning of April via Egypt and Turkey. In contrast, the Bad Freienwalde stork is a western migrant. It overwinters in Spain or North Africa and is one of the first harbingers of spring in Brandenburg.
