Places

The colonists set out from the hills around Heidelberg, gathered in Frankfurt, walked to Fredericia and ended up on the heath south-west of Viborg. This map shows the places that matter in the story and in our family's part of it.

Where a village's exact position is not confirmed, the map shows the nearest town instead, as noted in each label. The dashed line is drawn straight and is not the route they actually walked. The same places are listed below for anyone who cannot use the map.

The places

Where the family came from

• Eschelbach, now part of Sinsheim, south-east of Heidelberg. Home of the Frank family.
• Tairnbach, Eschelbach's neighbouring village. Most likely Eva Magdalena Benz's birthplace.
• Bödigheim, about 5 km south of Buchen in the Odenwald. Probably Anna Cathrine Märcher's birthplace.
• Gronau and the Lauter valley, in the Odenwald south of Darmstadt. Johan Jacob Dürr was born in Gronau in 1749 and baptised at Reichenbach nearby. This is most likely Gronau next to Bensheim, home of the Kriegbaum family. The local history gives Peter Dürr's home as Darmstadt.

On the way

• Frankfurt am Main, where the Danish agent Moritz recruited and the columns set out.
• Fredericia, Kolding and Vejle, where many colonists spent their first winter.
• Viborg, the market town where they sold their potatoes.

The colonies on Alheden

• Havredal (Frederikshede), first settled on 17 May 1760.
• Grønhøj (Frederikshøj), first settled on 22 July 1760. Johann Michael Frank was churchwarden here.
• Frederiks, with Frederiks Church (1766), the colonists' own church.
• Frederiksmose, the fifteen-farm colony at Gråmose south of Havredal, where Johan Jacob Dürr farmed. Its exact position is not confirmed, so it is not on the map.

Leaving the heath

• Kragelund, south-east of Alheden, where Leonhard Frank married in 1837 and had a smallholding.
• Balle and Silkeborg. Leonhard Frank's family lived at Hvinningdal in Balle parish in 1860. His granddaughter Jensine married in Silkeborg in 1908, and his daughter Thrine died there in 1926.

Visiting today

Frederiks Church

On the northern edge of Frederiks, about 15 km south-west of Viborg. The church was built in 1766 as a simple whitewashed longhouse, and the plain pulpit dates from its consecration. The churchyard has the memorial stone from 1959 with the colonist family names, and Ole Herold's sculpture Kartoffelpigen (1984) stands by the church.

Grønhøj Kro and museums

Grønhøj Skivevej 26, 7470 Karup J. The old inn houses museums on the colonists and on Frederiks Church, and its outbuildings include a colonist barn rebuilt by the descendants' association. A stone placed in 2016 lists the surnames of the families that stayed. Check opening times with the inn before you go.

Kongenshus Mindepark

A memorial park on the heath dedicated to the people who cultivated it. More than 1,200 names are carved on its parish stones, and a circle at the meeting place by the entrance carries the names of German colonist families.