Asbach, Birkenfeld
Asbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein. Geography Location The municipality lies on the Hinterbach in the transitional zone between the Kempfelder Hochmulde (“high hollow”) and the Idar-Soon-Pforte (“gate”) east of the Idarwald (forest, part of the Hunsrück). The village's elevation is from 460 to 480 m above sea level. Land use Former agricultural uses of the municipality's rather nutrient-poor soil were mainly rye, oats, barley and root vegetables. The hollows are used as grassland on mainly gley and podzol soils. The sandy, nutrient-poor soils on the quartzite outliers of the Schwarzwälder Hochwald (forest) are used as woodlots. Constituent communities South of the main village lies the outlying centre of Asbacherhütte (“Asbach Ironworks”), which traces its beginnings to an iron-smelting complex. The most noteworthy building here is the former Böcking manor house. The Deutsche Edelsteinstraße (“German Gemstone Road”) leads through Asbacherhütte. Neighbouring municipalities Asbach's neighbours are Hellertshausen, Weiden, Hottenbach, Mörschied, Kempfeld and Schauren, all of which also lie in the Birkenfeld district. History In the wedge of woodland between the two deep