Föckelberg
historyFöckelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Altenglan, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies in the Western Palatinate between roughly 380 and 465 m above sea level. Indeed, within Föckelberg’s limits is found a peak of 562 m, the Potzberg, upon which stands the 35 m-tall Potzbergturm (tower). Föckelberg shares the Wildpark Potzberg (game park) with Neunkirchen am Potzberg.
Neighbouring municipalities
Föckelberg borders in the north on the municipality of Bosenbach, in the east on the municipality of Niederstaufenbach, in the southeast on the municipality of Oberstaufenbach, in the south on the municipality of Neunkirchen am Potzberg, in the west on the municipality of Rutsweiler am Glan and in the northwest on the municipality of Altenglan.
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman»Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat.
Mayor
Föckelberg’s mayor is Henning Pallmann, and his deputies are Gunter Liesenfeld and Klaus Klein»Föckelberg’s council.
Coat of arms
The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Per pale Or in base a mount of three issuant from which the Potzbergturm vert and sable a lion rampant of the first armed, langued and crowned gules.
The charge on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the Potzbergturm, a lookout tower that stands on top of the Potzberg and serves as a prominent local landmark. The “mount of three” (called a Dreiberg in German heraldry), the three-knolled hill from which the tower emerges, represents this mountain, and is also canting for the last syllable in the village’s name, —berg, which means “mountain” in German. The lion on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side stands for Electoral Palatinate, which exercised authority in Föckelberg under the Old Empire»Description and explanation of Föckelberg’s arms.
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:»Directory of Cultural Monuments in Kusel district
- At Brunnenstraße 3 – stone oven pedestal, marked 1771, oven slab, marked 1720
- At Eckstraße 9 – oven slab, marked 1720, stone oven pedestal
- At Hofgartenstraße 1 – stone oven pedestal, marked 1802
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Crossing in the village are Kreisstraßen (District Roads) 34 (Hauptstraße) and 35 (Straße auf den Potzberggipfel). To the southwest runs the Autobahn A 62 (Kaiserslautern–Trier). Serving Altenglan is a railway station on the Glantalbahn.
- »Föckelberg in the collective municipality’s webpages
- [http://www.swr.de/landesschau-rp/hierzuland/-id=100766/nid=100766/did=2349428/btt0mx Brief portrait of Föckelberg with film at SWR Fernsehen]