Stonemason Route

For more than 300 years, the profession of stonemason has been practiced with great tradition in the community of Contwig. The 16 km long Stonemason Route follows the traces of this ancient craft.

The starting point is the parking lot at the recreational area with the heated outdoor pool in Contwig. The route leads along the main street to the traffic lights in the town center. Here stands an impressive maypole with the trademarks of the craft businesses, some of which still exist in Contwig, but some have long been discontinued. Straight ahead, the path leads to the stairway to the St. Laurentius church. A handcrafted sandstone portal forms the entrance.

We climb the stairs to the church and see the impressive building made of red sandstone before us. A look inside the church is worthwhile before the path leads past the Marian grotto through a small park, up the narrow village street. At the end of Schillerstraße, we turn left and follow Oberauerbacher Straße further uphill. After passing the village exit, we see a wayside cross on the right. We turn into the field path branching off here and stay on the path until we reach the field path running along the ridge. We turn right and continue hiking on this ridge path. To the north, we see the Sickingen Heights, and to the south on the horizon, the silhouette of the Vosges can be seen. Passing another wayside cross, we cross an intersection and follow the path up a hill until we reach the crossing before Pottschütthöhe, where the Tillemann-Stella-Weg coming from Battweiler meets the Stonemason Route.

The Stonemason Route turns right and runs between fields and meadows. Following the signs, we finally reach a small forest area through which we hike downhill to Stambach.

Just a few meters behind the village entrance, on the left side, we see the Church of Mary, Queen of Angels built from red sandstone. A little further on the right, we see the Protestant Church, also a sandstone building, but the sandstone used here has already been machine-processed.

Reaching the main road, we first turn left to follow the road branching off right at the next junction. We pass the train platform and leave the village via the forest path ascending to the right. Passing the old tunnel facilities of the West Wall, where bats have made their home, we reach the height. We turn right and hike on the paved field path until the end of the forest. From here, we have a wonderful view of Contwig. We leave the paved path and continue left on the unpaved field path. After a few meters, we reach a rest area from where we again have a very beautiful view of Contwig. We continue on this ridge path until another paved path crosses it, on which we turn right to return to Contwig. Upon arriving in the village, we cross the railway tracks, turn right behind the weir, and reach the recreational area and the starting point through the idyllic Schwarzbach valley.

Throughout the Stonemason Route, the red sandstone houses or the charming sandstone frames around windows and doors, as well as the masterfully carved stones of the house bases in both villages, remind us of the craft of stonemasons. In open fields, the stone crosses bear witness to this craftsmanship.

If you want to skip the southern loop of the route, you can follow the bike and footpath along the Schwarzbach from the Stambach train stop to the Contwig recreational area.