The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Puszcza Bukowa

An easily accessible vantage point offering a wonderful panoramic view of Szczecin. The open area in front of the vantage point also offers numerous seating areas and barbecue facilities.

Cement was already known to the ancient Romans, but it was later abandoned in construction for hundreds of years. It wasn't until the 19th century that the Englishman Joseph Aspdin reinvented it, patenting a method for producing Portland cement (its color resembled the limestone rocks of the Isle of Portland in Great Britain) in 1824. Less than forty years later, Szczecin was already one of the largest centers of the cement industry in Germany. Gustav Adolf Toepffer was largely responsible for this. He initially sought his chance to make a fortune by opening a fashion store, investing in a coconut mat factory, and breeding silkworms. However, his greatest success and fame came from the Portland cement factory "Stern," which he founded in 1862 with Heinrich Grawitz (his brother-in-law) in Zdroje. A major advantage was the convenient location of the cement plant. It was built on the site between today's ul. Batalionów Chłopskich (Champions' Battalions) and the banks of the Regalica River, near Kopalniana and Grabowa Streets. Close to the deposits of chalk, limestone, and clay mined on the slopes of the Bukowa Forest. Mine output (the most famous being the flooded chalk mine pit, the Emerald Lake) was transported to the cement plant in cable cars. Some elements of this infrastructure survive to this day (including a tunnel and a bridge). Access to the river (the factory was connected to the Regalica by a canal) guaranteed good transport conditions for the finished product, as well as the receipt of supplies from the island of Rügen (when local raw materials were slowly depleting). All this, and above all, the high quality of the award-winning product, led to the factory's rapid expansion. After the founder's death, his son, Albert Eduard Toepffer, took over management of the factory. He expanded production to include paving slabs and roof tiles. Today, he would also be called a marketing expert. He demonstrated the potential of the materials produced by "Stern" to potential buyers by building an artificial grotto in 1880 (it still exists today) and two concrete arches (one survives), upon which a Far Eastern-style music pavilion was erected. Today, almost no trace remains of the factory. After the war, it was dismantled to provide building materials for the reconstruction of Szczecin.

A former chalk and marl mine operated by the nearby "Stern" Portland cement factory, founded in 1862 and owned by the Toepffer family. In 1925, a sudden flood of groundwater through a layer of permeable sand led to the quarry's opening. The quarry quickly filled with water. People were immediately evacuated. The quarry was flooded. Emerald Lake was created, which owes its color and name to the high calcium carbonate content in the water and the reflection of light from the chalk bed. In good weather, railway wagons and even workers' tools can still be seen at the bottom of the lake. A concrete bridge, part of the railway track used to transport chalk output to the nearby cement plant, still stands near the lake today.

beautiful view

The Groński boulder is an erratic boulder: a colossus. It has been a natural monument since 1956. And who was Groński? Stanisław Groński was a Polish mountaineer and a pioneer of tourism in the Szczecin region, as you will learn from the information placed on the boulder itself. Mr. Groński died a tragic death during an expedition to Mont Blanc in 1957.

The Heart Boulder, also known as the Mill Stone, is an erratic. Made of granite, its shape resembles a heart. It is entered in the register of natural monuments. It is also colossal in terms of size: impressive dimensions: circumference 14.5 m, and length over 4 m.

Two shelters and a place for a bonfire next to the gas thrower called "Heart of the Forest". Easy access by car means that on nice days there are always a lot of people here.

Groński's boulder was protected as a natural monument in 1956. Previously, it was called the Aleksander Świętochowski Stone or Bolkowy Głaz, in honour of Bolesław Krzywousty. The boulder is 1235 cm in circumference, 450 cm long and about 150 cm high. It also has a hole for placing an explosive charge. In 1959, a plaque was placed on the boulder with the inscription "In memory of Stanisław Groński, a leading Polish mountaineer, a pioneer of tourism in the Szczecin Region. He died in the Mount Blanc massif in August 1957." Stanisław Groński was a very colourful character. He was passionate about the mountains, which was partly due to his origins. He was the son of a Tatra juhas. He went on many expeditions to the Alps and the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. During World War II, he supported partisans from the Polish Underground State. Later, fate brought him to Szczecin. He settled there with his family. Even though he worked for the Polish State Railways, he was completely absorbed by local studies. He became an expert and a bard of Western Pomerania. He never forgot about the mountains, and they never forgot about him. He died in 1957 while traversing Mont Blanc. The boulder bearing his name in the Bukowa Forest is not the only one. His memory was also honored with symbolic plaques in the Julian Alps, at the Tatra Symbolic Cemetery near Osterwa and at the cemetery in Chamonix.