On a beautiful summer's day in July 1777, Johann

Wolfgang Goethe made his way from Kochberg to Weißenburg, crossing the Saale at Weißen. In a letter to Frau von Stein, he raved about the „quite magnificent area“ and the „perfectly beautiful places“ he had found here.

When she was young, Charlotte von Lengefeld, Friedrich Schiller's wife, stood for hours at her chamber window in Rudolstadt and saw „beautiful mountains and an old castle lying on the hill in the distance“, which was often the destination of her dreams.

The painter W.E. Huschke from Jena came through Weißen towards the end of the nineteenth century and looked at the area from the old pile-dwelling-like Saale bridge, which gave him a

„lovely picture“. He then stopped off at the „Mutter Schramm“ inn, which stood on the same spot where our „Am Floßanger“ inn is located today.

Our house did not get this name by chance, on our side of the Saale, a little upstream, was the Weißener Floßanger. This is where the Weissen raftsmen used to tie their long timber rafts. The rafts, which came from the Oberland, had to pay the raft toll to the state of Saxony-Meiningen before crossing the Weßener Weir. The Weissen weir was mentioned in documents as early as 1484, but was demolished in 1975.

We are in a historically remarkable area here. Weißen was first mentioned in a document in 1083. Weissenburg Castle was founded around 1248. The most important owner of the castle, Friedrich von Thüna, is said to have accompanied Martin Luther to the Imperial Diet in Worms.

The gate stone in our staircase is a reminder of the old Weissen mill.

H.R.

Enjoy the beauty of the Saalelandschaft as well as our hospitality.