Sommerloch is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach

administrative region Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, in western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

Location

Sommerloch lies 12km northwest of Bad Kreuznach in the vicinity of the Nahe Valley, on the edge of the Soonwalds. The village is surrounded by vineyards. Seven wineries grow about 100 hectares of vines, primarily Riesling grapes. This wine region is not far from the "middle" Rhine River, just 25km from Bingen am Rhein or 33 km from Ingelheim am Rhein. In the town on Weinbergstraße (Wine Mountain Street) is Saint Aegidius Roman Catholic church built in 1789. Nearby villages include

Sankt Katharinen Sankt Katharinen is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography The districts landscape covers the Westerwald mountains, east of the Rhine river valley. The Rhine forms the western boundary of the dis ...

Braunweiler Braunweiler is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rüdesheim, ...

and Wallhausen.

History

A valley, not a summer hole

In the 1158 Sommerloch was mentioned as managed by the Rupert Monastery of Bingen. In the first documents, the area was noted as "Sumerlachen". Later the location was ruled by the Herrschaft Dalberg. The name originally referred to the location as being a wet basin or a wet valley. Today the village is situated in the pleasant Nahe valley surrounded by hills planted with rows of grapes. The Schünemann house also belongs to Sommerloch. The German newsmedia term ''Sommerloch'' refers to a boring time in the summer when news is lacking. Alternatively, the popular translation of the German word ''Sommerloch'' is in English "silly season".

Religion

The population of Sommerloch is mostly Roman

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Saint Aegidius is the only church in the village; built in 1789. The church is managed by the church staff of nearby Wallhausen.

Council and Mayor

The Sommerloch council consists of eight council members. The members are voluntary; the mayor is the council chairman. Local mayor is Bernard Boos since 2024.

Business and infrastructure

In the south is the Federal Highway 41. In the nearby town of

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke (Bad Kreuznach), Alte Nahebrücke, ...

is a station of the railway Bingen-Saarbrücken. The largest employer of Sommerloch is HUM-Festerbau.

Literature

* K. Eckes: The history of the village of Sommerloch and its church. In: 200 years St. Ägidius. Sommerloch 1789 to 1989. Sommerloch 1989, pp. 9–36.