Explosives in the "Kingdom of Buchholz"

The village of Ohl holds special significance in the region of the Water Quintet: Here, the Wipper becomes the Wupper. At the point where the Kerspe flows into the Wipper, which originates near Marienheide, the Wipper relinquishes the name that likely applied to the entire river course in the past. Nevertheless, the
The name "Wipper" is still used today downstream, for example in the names of the town of Wipperfürth or the Wipperkotten near Solingen. The history of Ohl is highly explosive, as can be discovered at Villa Ohl at Sauerlandstraße 7. In this over 200-year-old house, whose facade is even said to have been designed with the help of the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, family members of the manufacturers Cramer and Buchholz once lived. They produced gunpowder and thus dominated the local economy so much that the region was also called the "Kingdom of Buchholz." Due to a visit by Kaiser Wilhelm II, Villa Buchholz was also known for a time as the "Kaiservilla" (Emperor's Villa). The museum on the first floor (open Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) is run by the "Förderverein Villa Ohl" (Villa Ohl Support Association). It showcases the history of the gunpowder mills in the Wipper Valley and its tributaries, as well as the trade and transport of this explosive material.

With the Powder Museum behind you, follow Sauerlandstraße to the left out of town. After a right-hand bend in the road, you'll cross the border into Rönsahl in the Märkischer Kreis district. At the first junction, turn left onto Grenzweg (Border Path) uphill. At the edge of the village, cross Kerspeweg and continue straight ahead, following the signs for the Wasserquintett (Water Quintet) hiking trail. At the fish ponds, ignore the first junction on your left, then turn left at the second, keep right at a fork, and then take the next left. Follow the path to the Kerspe Dam. This reservoir, with a capacity of 15,5 million cubic meters, supplies drinking water to Wuppertal, among other places. Construction of the 329-meter-long gravity dam, which has impounded the Kerspe River and its tributaries since 1912, took four years. About 1,7 kilometers downstream, the Kerspe flows into the Wipper and makes it the "Wupper".
As early as 1899, the Lingese River was dammed two valleys further south to create a reservoir. In 1620, Johann Walter had built a gunpowder mill there in Ballenbrügge, a village now submerged. He produced gunpowder from Chilean saltpeter, sulfur from Sicily, and charcoal from the local alder buckthorn, soon joined by his son-in-law, Cramer. "Rönsahl gunpowder" was in high demand during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and was later exported as far as Sweden, Norway, Hungary, and Switzerland. The family business, into which Carl Friedrich Buchholz married in 1830, also produced civilian explosives, for example, for mining or hunting. As lucrative as gunpowder production was, it was equally dangerous. Numerous gunpowder mills exploded and were therefore preferably built in sparsely populated areas from the outset. The carts transporting the gunpowder were often preceded by a companion to warn the inhabitants of the villages about the explosive cargo.

Your onward route, however, is completely safe. It leads across the dam wall, then left onto the local road, and right along this road through Großfastenrath. Continue straight through the village and at its end, turn left onto the road. At the next junction, turn right, keep left in Speckenbach, and walk out of the village onto the hilltop, where you turn left at the crossroads. Follow the path along the hilltop to the edge of the forest, where the path – now following the markings of the "Bergischer Panoramasteig" – leads downhill in a long, sweeping left-hand curve. In the valley, follow the side road to the left in Ibach to the main road, walk a few meters to the right along it, cross it in Böswipper, and continue onto Neusturmberg Street. Soon, you'll reach a dead end that crosses the cycle and pedestrian path on the former railway line. Behind the house at Neusturmberg 1, the small road leads diagonally to the right, soon climbing steeply uphill. It then becomes a gravel path, and before the last house, a trail leads you to the right, quickly gaining elevation. At the top, follow the wide path to the right. After a few meters, keep right at the fork and turn left at the next intersection. A panoramic view across the Bergisches Land hills soon opens up above the treetops of the young trees to your right. At a junction, continue straight ahead and quickly descend through a deeply cut, stony hollow, then cross the district road and continue straight uphill to the edge of the forest, where you turn right. At the next junction, turn left into the forest, continue straight ahead at the intersection, and keep left at a fork. Continue straight through the forest, descending at the next intersection until you reach Dohrgauler Straße. Turn right onto Dohrgauler Straße and follow it through Ohl back to the starting point.