Kleinschmalkalden

Kleinschmalkalden is a village on the southern slope of the Thuringian Forest in Landkreis Schmalkalden-Meiningen of Thuringia, Germany. In 2006 it joined the neighbouring municipality Floh-Seligenthal.GeographyThe village is situated high in the valley of Schmalkalde river which passes through the centre of the village. For several hundred years, until the end of the Second World War, the river also formed a political boundary creating two distinct villages separated by only a few metres of water. Population, as of 2006, is about 1500 persons. The Rennsteig passes about 5km north of the village.Kleinschmalkalden is located on road L 1026 between Schmalkalden and Friedrichroda, road L 1127 towards Ruhla via Brotterode branches off in the centre of the village. The former railway line between Schmalkalden and Brotterode is now a cycle path.HistoryA smithy on the site of the village was first mentioned in 1378. The part west of Schmalkalde river was recorded in 1465 as a village. It belonged to Amt Brotterode in the lordship of Schmalkalden which was an exclave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. In 1866 this village came to Prussia. Another settlement formed east of the river after 1500. It was part of Amt Tenneberg in the duchy of Saxe-Gotha and came to the Free State of Thuringia in 1920. The partition of the village is the reason why there are two evangelical churches, the Hessian and the Gothaic church.