Discover Bernshausen

Bernshausen between the church, Kutte and hiking trail

The Evangelical St. John’s Church in Bernshausen stands in the village and is a cultural landmark. Bernshausen’s Kutte is a sinkhole lake on the outskirts of the village, below the Stoffelskuppe; the long-distance hiking trail HOCHRHÖNER runs directly through Bernshausen. These are three distinct features: a church, a landscape formation and a long-distance hiking route. When planning your trip, you can decide whether to focus primarily on the landscape, hiking or the village’s cultural heritage.

Lake and trails

A circular trail leads from Bernshausen’s Kutte to the corner of Salzunger Weg. The HOCHRHÖNER, by contrast, is the long-distance hiking trail that runs directly through Bernshausen. The information describes two different trail connections: a circular trail from the Kutte to a named destination and a long-distance hiking route through the village. If you are planning a hike, check the current route, as trails may change. This lets you consider the local circular trail and the long-distance hiking trail as separate options for your plans.

Culture in the wider destination of Dermbach

In the wider destination of Dermbach, the Museum of the Thuringian Rhön showcases traditional crafts such as weaving and carving, along with historical tools, traditional costumes, furniture, agricultural equipment and handicrafts. Its topics include the history of the Dermbach district and the Peasants’ War in the Vorderrhön. The museum also covers cork processing in Dermbach and small industrial businesses along the Feldabahn, built in 1880. Other subjects include the Feldabahn narrow-gauge railway, the legend of the Rhönpaulus, and the 1866 clashes between Prussia and Bavaria in the Dermbach area.

Architectural history in Dermbach

The buildings in the wider destination of Dermbach also offer a variety of historical and architectural points of interest. The Evangelical church on Kirchberg is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It was built in 1714 on the foundations of a predecessor church in the Peasant Baroque style. Dermbach Castle was built in 1707 by Adalbert von Schleifras, Prince-Abbot of Fulda; three simple Baroque-style buildings enclose a spacious rectangular courtyard. The Catholic parish office is housed in a former Franciscan monastery dating from 1730/31. A half-timbered church in Dermbach dates from 1677 and is considered the smallest in southern Thuringia. The Old Cemetery in Dermbach is now a small park-like area.

Landscape and routes in Dermbach

The Ibengarten, a yew forest, lies above Glattbach, a district of Dermbach. The Rhönpaulus Forest Ibengarten Discovery Trail is seven kilometres long from Dermbach and two kilometres from Glattbach, in each case one way. The stated distances therefore differ by five kilometres; the return route descends Neuberg along the same trail. The wider destination of Dermbach also has a connection to the greater mouse-eared bat: for decades, a maternity roost has been located in the attic of the church in Neidhartshausen. The protected roost was included in the European Natura 2000 network as a Special Area of Conservation in 2008. The Bat Trail runs from Neidhartshausen to Zella, a district of Dermbach.

To the wider travel overview: Urnshausen.