Ornshagen
Photos by Joyce Gardner 2005.
Upon getting back on the road to Ludwigshorst we discovered
the "main road" to Ornshagen consisted of a one lane cobblestone
path through the woods for 2.5 kilometers to the village. As we
drove along this road we came upon a young woman briskly walking in
the same direction we were going, carrying three bags of groceries.
We stopped and gave her a ride to the village. She had walked to
Regenwalde (Resko) for groceries and was on our way home. I don't
know the distance to Resko but she said it took her about one and a
half hours. While she rode with us, she said she lived in Ornshagen
and that the village now consisted of only four families. A new
house had been built by two hunters who came there every year. She
also told us there was an old German cemetery in the woods beside
the village.
When we stopped the car to photograph the sign with the village
name, she thanked us for the ride, got out of the car and walked to her home.
We could see village had to be the site of a huge estate at one time from the cobblestone road, the old buildings, barns,
and stone walls. We didn't notice any trace of a manor home but we did not walk around the entire village or the woods
on the right side of the houses. Our attention was taken by the old cobblestone path which wound into the woods. As we
walked down the path we saw a lake that may have been formed by an old mill we found after crossing a footbridge.
A pair of swans with young babies were swimming in the lake.
The remains of the foundation of the mill was holding back the water except for a narrow opening in which the
water rushed and tumbled down a drop of several feet to a small stream below. The cobblestone path to the
old dam had stone upright markers along the lake side of the cobblestone path. The cobblestones seemed
to end at the mill but a well worn path continued into the woods.
We returned back towards the village and walked between the brick pillars that had once held the gate to the
cemetery. As we walked through the tall weeds, I was surprised to see a gravestone with a black marble plaque
in almost perfect condition.
The grave was for five year old Frieda Martha Maria Gerhke, born 11 May 1907, died 14 December, 1912.
Another badly worn grave stone was for Fritz Krauz? (sp.) born 4
October, 1862 and died 28 August, 1903 at almost 41 years of age. I
continued to photograph other stones which were unreadable either
through age, wear, or destruction. There may have been names under
the moss of a couple stones but I felt I would have done more damage
to the stone in trying to remove the moss.
As I was looking down photographing the graves in the grass and ivy, I became aware I had walked up to a high
stone and brick wall which was towards the left side at the back of the cemetery. I walked around this "wall"
and was astonished to be looking through a doorway to a back wall with a beautiful white cross upon it. My
ivy covered wall was for a small chapel. I believe a family crest or carving may have been above the brick
archway as there was now a rectangular hole in the stone and brick work where something had been removed.
The inside back wall of the chapel still had most of the old German words upon it along with a beautiful white
cross with blue rays coming from behind it. (Translation: I live and you should also live).
On the floor of the chapel below the cross on the wall, someone had carefully laid the pieces of an iron cross from
the cemetery along with a couple of small ornamental ironwork pieces. The cross was from the grave of Bertha
Reinke, born 4 April, 1867, died 20 April, 1908. She too had died at age 41.
The ceiling of the chapel was arched to a center round open hole from which the sun's rays were shining in. I was
completely awed to have stumbled upon this scene. Other than wiping some dirt and old plaster dust off the iron
cross on the floor to get a better photograph of the name and dates, I left the chapel as I had found it.
As I left I decided to walk around the rest of the chapel and plunged through the shoulder high weeds to walk
along the right side of the chapel to see the back of the building. The back outside wall was completely covered with
vines and I discovered it was actually in the back yard of one of the houses where a dog began barking furiously so
I quickly retraced my steps through the weeds and left the cemetery,
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