Sommerkahl

Sommerkahl is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (municipal association) of Schöllkrippen. It has a population of around 1,100.GeographySommerkahl is located in the Mittelgebirge Spessart, in the valley known as Kahlgrund, northeast of Aschaffenburg and not far from the border between the states of Bavaria and Hesse.SubdivisionsThe community’s Ortsteile are Sommerkahl and Vormwald.HistorySommerkahl was first mentioned in 1184. The oldest part of the settlement is Untersommerkahl, around the Böhmerhof. Obersommerkahl and Vormwald followed in late medieval times.In 1542, the Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht granted a permit to mine ore in Sommerkahl. Kupferschiefer was mined for copper. The first period of mining here ended during the Thirty Years' War.It was resumed in the second half of the 17th century. 42 out of a total 50 claims active at the time in the Spessart region were located in the upper Kahl valley, 11 of them in Sommerkahl.