Willmenrod is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...

'' – in the

Westerwaldkreis The Westerwaldkreis ("District of Westerwald") is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Altenkirchen (district), Altenkirchen, Lahn-Dill, Limburg-Weilburg, Rhein ...

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 ...

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

Willmenrod lies in the valley of the Elbach between the 475-m-high Watzenhahn and the Stromberg in the middle of the

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the States of Germany, German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Ma ...

Geology

The landscape is characterized by

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

deposits. Until after the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, basalt was still being

quarried A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

in Willmenrod and broken up into chips and crushed stone in the community. One hundred and twenty hectares of the municipal area is wooded.

Neighbouring communities

Willmenrod borders in the north on Sainscheid and

Westerburg Westerburg () is a small town of roughly 6,000 inhabitants in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The town is named after the castle built on a hill above the medieval town centre (''Burg'' is German for “castle”) Geograph ...

, in the east on Wengenroth and Berzhahn, in the south on

Girkenroth Girkenroth is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Girkenroth lies 7 km south of Westerburg at the foot of the Watzenhahn woodland. Sin ...

and

Dorndorf Dorndorf () is a village and a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, 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 ...

and in the west on Weltersburg and

Guckheim Guckheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Guckheim, mainly a residential community with a well-developed club life, lies ...

Climate

Despite the claim to the contrary in the folksong ''Oh du schöner Westerwald'', the wind does not whistle quite so cold. Rather, a moderate climate holds sway here. In winter, the snow is limited, in summer, it is only seldom unbearably hot and when there is stormy weather, the two mountain ridges keep the wind off the community's location.

History

In 1212, Willmenrod had its first documentary mention as ''Wernbolderode''. Since 1712 it has borne its current name. In 1805, almost the whole village was burnt down in a great fire. Owing to the thatched roofs and tight rows of houses that prevailed then, such a catastrophe was very nearly inevitable. Owing to the community's location on the Elbbach, which afforded a great deal of waterpower, it was possible to run five mills here.

Religion

Willmenrod is overwhelmingly

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Population development

For a few years, the population figure has been swinging between 650 and 700.

Politics

Community council

The council is made up of 13 council members, including the extraofficial mayor (''Bürgermeister''), who were elected in a

majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

in a municipal election on 13 June 2004.

Coat of arms

The waterwheel in community's

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

stands for the five mills which were formerly of great importance. The lozenges stand for the lesser noble house of Willmenrod. The blue wavy fess stands for the Elbbach's special importance. The various

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

s stand for the community's changing overlords.

Culture and sightseeing

Clubs

Willmenrod has a

fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

, a

sport club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

, a fruit-growing and

gardening Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of Aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing area ...

club and a mixed

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

Notable people

* Television cook

Clemens Wilmenrod Clemens Wilmenrod (July 24, 1906 – April 12, 1967) was the first German television cook. His pseudonym was derived from the municipality Willmenrod in the Westerwald region, where he was born as Carl Clemens Hahn. Wilmenrod is considered the ...

, who took his stage name from the community's name, and is buried in the graveyard here

References

External links

* Gudrun Fünter
''Willmenrod - Ein Ortsporträt''
Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Westerwaldkreis {{Westerwaldkreis-geo-stub