Birkenhördt

Birkenhördt is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and is an officially-recognized tourist resort.GeographyBirkenhördt lies in the Wasgau, which is composed of the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the northern part of the Vosges Mountains.Neighboring municipalities are - clockwise - Silz, Bad Bergzabern, Dörrenbach, Böllenborn, Erlenbach bei Dahn, and Vorderweidenthal.The source of the Erlenbach is located in Birkenhördt.HistoryIn the 1930s Birkenhördt was annexed to the district of Bad Bergzabern. With the local-government reform in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1969 Birkenhördt, along with most communities of the district was incorporated into the newly created district Landau-Bad Bergzabern. This in turn was renamed in 1978 as the Südliche Weinstraße district.Coat of armsThe coat of arms shows a golden lion on a black field symbolizing Birkenhördt's one-time allegiance to the Palatinate, and a green birch branch as a visual pun on the name "Birkenhördt". They might be heraldically described "Party per bend sinister, sable a lion passant bendwise sinister or crowned armed and langued gules, or a three-leaved birch branch vert."