The Wine Mill The two previous mills were located in rather gloomy places with little light, and so we leave these dark places shivering and are downright relieved when we reach the sunlit estate of the former wine mill ten minutes later. Here, too, we find the former residential and mill building only in its foundation walls. The ditch of the mill dike, through which the water ran onto the mill wheel, is still clearly visible. An outbuilding of this mill is still preserved and is apparently used for recreation. The last inhabitant of the mill was Ernst Wein (1868-1959), who could tell wonderful old stories. His pride and joy was the threshing machine driven by the water wheel. It is reported of his older sister that in her whole life she had not gone further out of the mill than at most once as far as Gondershausen to the church. The mill weir, which was dammed about 200 meters above the wine mill and is still clearly recognizable, once served the farmers of Gondershausen as a "Schafkümpel" (pond), into which the sheep were driven from time to time and washed, so that the wool was not too dirty during shearing. Later, the youth of the village used the pond for bathing and swimming. Below the wine mill, where the "Waldecker Wanderweg" leads down from Heyweiler, the terrain is so twisted by protruding rocks that we have to change sides several times over three wooden footbridges and only continue over narrow, partly steep paths. And then we reach a natural forest section, in whose impassability the operation of a commercial forest was not possible. Mighty beech trees, probably 150 years old, grow on a steep slope. Some of them have already been knocked down by the storm, others have broken off their strong branches, and only their bare stumps still reach for the sky. It seems to be only a question of time when their roots will rot off and they will fall down the slope. But nature takes care of itself and provides for new growth. Lots of young trees are already growing, which will soon provide a dense forest again.