550 Mill house

The extended Durbachtal counted over twenty mills and hydroelectric power plants until the 1920s. A few years ago, the age of mill romance in our valley came to an end with the Weilermühle…

Then in 2010, the Museum of Wine and Local History became aware of an old grinding mill at the Andreas Wörner estate in Durbach-Obertal. Until then, only a few locals even knew of the existence of this mill because it was well hidden in the back of the old Leibgedinghaus. Based on information from the family Wörner, the mill came from the Dünberg; it was then gifted to the daughter Viktoria, née Laible, around 1920, who was married in the Obertal. The mill on the Dünberg was already in operation long before but was unable to carry out its duty there due to constant water shortages. The Wörner family equipped the mill with an electric motor in 1922. The motor ensured the continued operation of the mill, thus allowing it to serve its purpose well until the 1980s.

A mill house was built in 2011/2012 with the support of the experienced millwright Berthold Breithaupt from Gutach and under the direction of our second chairman Heinz Bächle, thus making the historic mill fully functional again. Numerous professional and competent volunteers spent countless hours – with much joy – trying to bring this technical miracle of the past back to life. On 3 August 2012, the new mill house with the historic mill was finally opened to the public with a celebratory inauguration. Finest bread flour is the product that is obtained between two precisely ground millstones – further certified by an experienced master miller.

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