Traveling back in Time - 400 Years of Farming in the Black Forest

The past comes to life in the open air museum Vogtsbauernhof. A variety of old farmhouses, some of them 400 years old were salvaged and rebuilt to serve as a reminder of how different and difficult farm life was only a few hundred years ago.

Those houses were constructed from local wood, and some of them had a foundation made of rocks and bricks. They were huge but most of the space were used for storage and livestock.

 

The farmhouse provided shelter year round against the cold winter storms and the hot summers.

Small gardens would provide for spices as well as medicinal herbs. The farm houses were built in remote areas and a doctor was not easy to get by in these days.

Often the roofs were covered by thick layers of thatch, a method that is still used today for ecologically built housing.

Most of these buildings were still occupied and lived in until late of last century, and some of the furniture has been left to show how people lived. The little shack on the right is a bakery. It was kept away from the main house for fire protection.

It looks picturesque today but one can imagine that farming in the Black Forest was a hard life, like pioneers' life in the wild west.

Water flowing through this little shack provided necessary cooling to keep diary products fresh. An eco - fridge.

Signs and smells of smoke is embedded in these walls. A rather primitive cooking place but it was likely the warmest spot in the house.

Under the roof there is the hay barn. It provided food for the livestock over the hard and long winters, and served as an additional insulation for the house.

 Old carriage.

 Cuckoo clock.

 Traditional clothing.

 Sawmill powered by water.

 The blacksmith's shop.

 A water powered oil mill.

In the long winters people would gather and tell each other ghost stories and sagas. The Black Forest is full of mystic events that might derive from the time that the Celts were around. Even the Romans didn't seem to like the eerie atmosphere back then, and moved on without leaving a trace.

The sun is shining bright, blue skies are decorated with fluffy white clouds, the river is surrounded by lush green. Who wants to think of cold winter nights on such a day, anyway.

 A covered bridge reminds yet again of Oregon.

 Today it serves as a foot and bicycle bridge across the river.

 

After so much history and education we moved on to get some real life refreshments. To quench our thirst we stopped at the former monastery of Alpirsbach where the monks specialized in... brewing beer.

 The monastery.

 An over a 1,000 years old watchtower.

 Medieval architecture.

Isn't it loverly?