Erfweiler is a municipality in

Südwestpfalz Südwestpfalz (, ) is a district (''Kreis'' or more precise ''Landkreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarpfalz, the district-free city Zweibrücken, the districts Kaiserslautern a ...

district, in

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 ...

, 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 ...

. It is a state-recognised resort.Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz – Regionaldaten
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Geography

Location

Erfweiler lies in the German part of the

Wasgau The Wasgau (, ) is a France, Franco-Germany, German Mountain range, hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of France, departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle (department), Moselle. It is formed from the south ...

, as the southern end of the

Palatine Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...

and northern part of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

are also called, and belongs to the natural regional of the Dahn Rockland. 82.5% of the parish is forested. Its neighbouring communities in clockwise order are

Hauenstein Hauenstein () is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate forest, approximately 20 km east of Pirmasens, and 20 km west of Landau. Hauenstein is the seat of the ' ...

, Schwanheim,

Busenberg Busenberg is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, 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 no ...

, Schindhard and Dahn.

High points

In the east, at the tripoint with Schwanheim and Busenberg is the Wolfshorn, , and, to the southwest on the boundary with Busenberg is the ''Eichelberg''. On the boundary with Hauenstein is the Mitel-Schachen and the Winterberg () and, to the west of that, is the ''Trögenberg'' () and the ''Wölmersberg'' further south. On the boundary with Schindhard is the

Kahlenberg The Kahlenberg () is a hill () located in the 19th District of Vienna, Austria ( Döbling). General The Kahlenberg lies in the Vienna Woods and is one of the most popular destinations for day-trips from Vienna, offering a view over the entir ...

() and on the boundary with Dahn, the Schlossberg ().

Culture

Cultural monuments

In the municipality there are a total of 29 objects that are under monument protection, including the 'Winter Church'.

Nature

The municipality is located in the

Palatine Forest Nature Park The Palatinate Forest Nature Park () lies in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and borders on France. The nature park covers an area of and some 76% of its area is under the woods of the Palatinate Forest, the largest contiguous fore ...

, which in turn belongs to the

Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve The Franco- German Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve (, ) was created in 1998 as the first UNESCO trans-boundary biosphere reserve in Europe. The German part became the 12th of 16 biosphere reserves in Germany, and the French part, ...

. In Erfweiler district there are also around a dozen rock formations that are classified as

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities, or cultural significance. They can be natural geological and geographical features such as w ...

s, including the ''Hegerturm''. The place is part of the Palatine Forest Climbing Area. At the boundary of Hauenstein was once a 300-year-old oak, popularly known as the 'Fat Oak' (''Dicke Eiche''). After becoming a victim of vandalism in 1994, it she was cut down in 2011. It is the namesake for the ''Dicke Eiche'' hiking home, which was on the Hauenstein side.

Sport and leisure

Erfweiler is home to an unusual descendant of the traditional card game of

German Schafkopf German Schafkopf () is an old German, ace–ten card game that is still played regionally in variant form today. It is the forerunner of the popular modern games of Skat, Doppelkopf and Bavarian Schafkopf. It originated in Leipzig in the Elect ...

, known as Bauernstoss.''Bauernstoss''
at

pagat.com Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been describ ...

. Retrieved 23 May 2021.

References

Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate South Palatinate Südwestpfalz {{Südwestpfalz-geo-stub