Schäferkreuz

Schäferkreuz stands on a former Meilerplatz, where workers once made charcoal from carefully stacked wood. The site preserves traces of that working landscape. Workers covered the wood with soil and let it smoulder slowly, producing fuel for blacksmiths and craftsmen. Charcoal mattered before coal became widely available. This production supported local trades and connected forest labour with the region’s economic life. The cross remains a quiet memorial to that labour. Its presence links peaceful surroundings with generations of practical knowledge, demanding work, and local workmanship. Smoke and burning wood once marked this place. The Schäferkreuz records how charcoal making shaped livelihoods, craft, and the character of the surrounding landscape. Its story reaches beyond the cross itself. The former charcoal site shows how forest work joined material, labour, trade, and local economic life. The cross gives that history a visible mark. At Schäferkreuz, charcoal links wood, soil, fire, and the crafts that depended on this fuel. The memorial keeps that connection present in the landscape.