Hammelwarden Cemetery During the construction of the church Friedrichskirche in the 18th century, the Duchy Oldenburg belonged to the Kingdom of Denmark. Accordingly, it was named after the Regent Friedrich V. (1723-1766). This very location was at the heart of the flourishing of the maritime wealth of the region. Inside the church, there is a ship´s model of the in Elsfleth based barque "Aeolus". The vessel war built in 1872 in the nearby Eylers-Werft in Hammelwarden. Additionally, the cemetery is dotted with numerous tombstones which attest to the maritime history of the region and its residents. Notable among them is the gravesite of Rear Admiral Carl-Rudolph Bromme, known as Brommy, the Commander of Germany´s first Imperial Naval Fleet. The lyricist and honorary citizen of Brake, Georg von der Vring, also has his last place of rest here. [More]
Oltmanns The oldest shipyard in Brake was founded by the ship´s carpenter Hinrich Oltmanns in 1791. Up until its bankruptcy in 1901, some 143 wooden sailing ships were launched here, including galiotes, schooners, brigs, barques, fully-rigged ships and Weser barges. The shipyard was also well-known outside of the region, given the high quality of services, particularly in the construction of fast vessels. Accordingly, orders were placed by customers located beyond the Weser coastline, such as Hamburg and the Netherlands. Following the death of Ide Oltmanns senior in 1856, his widow Anna Rebecka steered the company for nearly 30 additional years. The villa of the Family Oltmanns, built in 1861, is a so-called “Helgenbaas-House” and has been maintained practically unchanged until today. [More]
Hunte Flood Barrage This flood barrier is located where the Hunte flows into the Weser. Having four powerful flood gates and a breadth of some 120 meters, it protects the hinterland against storm tides. The facility began operating on the 1st of October 1979 and was one of the largest coastal protection facilities of this type at the time. Each direction of travel has ist own gate which has a breadth of 26 meters, and the two-part miter gates remain open as long as possible in order not to disrupt the shipping. The flood barrage will be closed only when the Weser rises to a water level of three meters above normal. On a daily basis, always at the top of the hour, the nearly vertical rolling lift bascule bridges are lowered in order to allow pedestrians and cyclists to reach the peninsula Elsflether Sand. [More]
Harbor Crane The gantry slewing crane, utilized for the loading and discharging of ships along the pier, was built in 1985 by the Krupp-Ardelt GmbH in Wilhelmshaven. It has a load capacity of 5,000 kg, its boom is 25 meters long.The last operator of the crane was a company based in Nordham. After this company relocated its domicile, Horst Werner, captain and ship owner from Elsfleth, acquired the crane with the aim of maintaining it as an industrial monument. In 2012, Lower Saxony´s Office for the Preservation of Monuments recognized the economic, historic and technical significance of the object and listed it officially as a cultural monument. [More]
Weser Customs in Elsfleth Amidst the confusion of the Thirty Years War, Duke Anton Günther von Oldenburg (1583-1661) achieved the impossible: He established a customs office along the Lower Weser. Indeed, in the Peace Traty of Westphalia in 1648, the Weser Customs Office was confirmed. Much to the dismay of, above all, the Hanseatic City of Bremen, each ship which navigated in either direction along the Lower Weser was required to pay a transit fee. As a result, Oldenburg benefitted from impressive revenues until 1856. The first customs station was located in Brake-Harrien, it was established in 1624 in the current City Hall of Elsfleth. At this site, a model of the old customs station of Elsfleth and of the city center can been viewed. Further information is available in the Maritime Museum “Haus Elsfleth”. [More]
Brommy's Villa Nothing more than a simple stone reminds us of the former business and residential house of the entrepreneur, shipyard owner and restaurant owner Gerhard Gross. In this very location, he and his family housed Carl Rudolph Bromme, better known as “Brommy”. Brommy was, as of 1849, a rear admiral and the commander of the German military fleet. The fleet headquarters were located in Bremerhaven; the city of Brake served as an additional base and as a winter berth, although the fleet was disbanded in 1852. In the same year, Brommy married Caroline, the daughter of Gerhard Gross. Caroline´s brother Karl, who served under Brommy as a midshipman, founded a merchant shipping line in 1876 and a company which is now an international logistics enterprise domiciled in Bremen. As of 1881, Karl was a member and, as of 1896, the president of the State Parliament of Oldenburg. [More]
Sailing Ship - Großherzogin Elisabeth The "Großherzogin Elisabeth" (Grand Duchess Elisabeth) started her life as the "San Antonio". The gaff-rigged schooner was launched on the 19th of August 1909 in Ablasserdam (Netherlands) and was worldwide the first cargo sailing ship which was equipped with a diesel motor. In 1982, the ship, known as "Ariadne" at the time, was purchased by the School Ship Society Grand Duchess Elisabeth, her current owner. She is warmly referred to as the “Lissi”. Moreover, she reminds us of the fully-rigged ship of the same name, a vessel built in 1901 and which served in a training capacity for a long period of time. The latter vessel is the "Duchesse Anne", now located in the French harbor of Dunkirk.The „Lissi“ is 63.70 m long, has a beam of 8.23 m and a sail area of 1010 m². Apart from the summer season, the vessel serves the Faculty of Navigation at the Jade College of Applied Sciences as a training ship. Additionally, it is open to the public for guest cruises and may be viewed along the pier of Elsfleth. [More]
Harriersand The riverine island Harriersand is eleven kilometers long and is located directly adjacent to the center of Brake. It received ist current form as a result oft he so-called “Weser correction”. Thereby, the Lower Weser was straightened and deepened from Bremen down to the estuary, as it flows into the North Sea near Bremerhaven. In the course of this technical masterpiece, a revolutionary achievement under the direction of Bremen´s Chief Construction Officer, Ludwig Franzius (1832-1903), Harriersand was formed by uniting seven riverine islands along Brake´s coast. Harriersand is now home to 150 holiday cottages, a campsite and many small sand beaches. The ferry GUNTSIET travels regularly between Brake and Harriersand. [More]
Duckdalben The term „Duckdalben “refers to mooring dolphins for ships in harbors, and these non-swimming dolphins are rammed into the ground and arranged in groups of three. Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg (1755-1829) commissioned the first „Duckdalben“ along the Weser waterway parallel to Brake, offering the numerous ships a chance to tie up along the pier. In 1790, as many as 138 vessels made use of the dolphins. Indeed, these dolphins served as the basis for the subsequent upturn in maritime traffic and cargo handling in Brake, with the expansion of the harbor amd the Stromkaje following in the wake of these developments. This museum exhibit showing significant traces of usage is an example of such a dolphin, and it is often an object in artistic presentations. [More]
Plan Street C Between 1780 and 1803, the regional economy boomed. The upturn caused by harbor business offered many new opportunities for earning money. The high price of real estate properties, on the other hand, discouraged many people from settling in the area. As a result, Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg (1755-1829) decreed that land parcels between the Middle Dyke and the old street Heerstrasse be publicly purchased, and this led to the presence of more affordable properties along the so-called “Plan Street C” which led from the pier straight into the hinterland. This “Plan Street C” evolved into the “Breite Strasse” (literals “Wide Street”). Simultaneously, the “Plan Street G” and the later “Lindenstrasse” came into being. The properties were enormously popular. In 1793, Brake had a population of 850 residents. In the following 20 years, this figure was doubled. [More]