The best running trails in Neuenburger Urwald

A lovely spot where groups can take long or short breaks and learn a little local history.

Every year on the third weekend of Advent, the cozy "Neeborg Christmas Market" takes place on the grounds around the Rauchkate. I can highly recommend a visit.

The smokehouse, or Rookkat as it is called in Low German, has been used as a local history museum since 1965 and served for many years as a smokehouse in which sausages, ham and bacon were smoked. The thatched house is almost 300 years old and was inhabited until the 1960s. The smokehouse includes a barn (Bischüür), the bakery (Backhuus) and the draw well (Soot). All buildings were moved to their current location near the castle in 1964. Until then, they stood at the northern exit of Neuenburg. The buildings, which have been preserved in their original condition, now serve as a local history museum for the Neuenburg local history association. Source: www.heimatverein-neuenburg.de

The beautiful station and the wagon, a great backdrop

Before, people walked The railway was the primary means of transport for over 50 years - and it made many things possible, including terrible things. Professor Meiners says: "As late as the end of 1942, Nazi propaganda was still blaring that the wheels had to roll into victory. And at the same time, hundreds of thousands of people were transported by rail to the extermination camps of the barbaric regime." Nevertheless, the railway's merits remain, especially in rural areas. The NWZ wrote in 1954: "It was the railway that saved the residents of the Wehde from having to travel between the individual towns or even to Varel or Wilhelmshaven on foot or later by bicycle. With the transport of goods over the last 50 years, it has undoubtedly also contributed to the economic rise in the towns of the Wehde." However, nothing remains of the routes that reminds us of the railway lines. Professor Meiners says:

Demolition prevented The fact that the building is still standing is thanks to committed Neuenburg residents, especially Hein-Jürgen Thalen. While the tracks in the Friesische Wehde were being dismantled, the then newly founded association "Die Bahner" prevented the station in Neuenburg from being demolished. Hein-Jürgen Thalen bought the building in 1982, renovated it and turned it into a "communications center" for artists. There was also a restaurant in the station. When this era came to an end, Hein-Jürgen Thalen rented the station out as a doctor's office. And even today, people still come and go to the Neuenburg station heritage site - whenever they need to see the dentist.

Portal of modernity In 1896, the railway section between Neuenburg and Zetel was put into operation. "And with that, Müller and with him all Neuenburg residents had access to all accessible locations in the then Reich territory. The train stations in the Oldenburg region became the portals of modernity," says Meiners. An excerpt from the NWZ from May 25, 1954: "Shortly before the turn of the century, people - as we were told by an eyewitness from Zetel - stood head to head on the platform in joyful anticipation of that first steaming and hissing machine that called itself a locomotive. Hardly anyone among these enthusiastic people would have suspected at the time that the Varel-Neuenburg and Ocholt-Ellenserdamm railway lines would become superfluous for passenger traffic on May 22, 1954, that a promising development that was beginning at that time would find an almost tragic farewell." The automobile had become serious competition to the railway. Under the headline "

In Neuenburg, the station building and the remains of the tracks are still there. In 1993, a BDyg conversion car with the number 50 80 82-12 216-1, built in 1959 in the Neuaubing depot, was placed on a track. Apparently, a restoration was started in recent years, but was not completed.