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Schmelzdorf, Kreis Regenwalde Our first stop was the village of Schmelzdorf. We had photographed the outside of the church in 2002 and went back to see if we could see and photograph the inside. My g-grandmother's brother, August Steffen and his wife, Johanne Buchholz lived here from 1874 until April, 1883 when they immigrated to the U.S. Two of the five children that were born in Pommern were buried at Schmelzdorf. We drove into town and I began taking more photos of the church and village while Anetta, spoke to a women in the village to see who had the key to the church. We were told we had to drive out of town to a farm as the wife had the key. We followed the directions and came to a "T" in the road. Our directions were to go straight ahead but there was only a badly rutted cart track through the tall grass with no farm in sight. My husband wasn't too sure about driving his new car down the path but with two women in the car determined to get the church key, he bravely ventured ahead down the path. (We had taken overseas delivery on a new Volvo station wagon.) After bumping along through a field or two with the tall grass hitting the bottom of the car, we started downhill into the woods and across a stream what had a brick-walled bridge over it. (We later learned the bridge had been built in 1886.) We turned a corner and there in front of us was an old estate. We passed the remains of a water mill and stopped on a rutted sloop beside a couple of old Russian military trucks. While Anetta and I got out of the car to walk into the farmyard, my husband tried to turn our car around on a badly rutted slope between the Russian trucks. Three men were working on a vehicle in the yard littered with more old Russian vehicles and parts. The largest man of the three walked up to us and eyed our car as Anetta explained the reason for our visit. The man was suddenly very animated and talkative as he told us that the village of Schmelzdorf and surrounding village had belonged to the family von Borck. He said the great-grandchildren have come back to visit with the last time being three years ago and named the places where these families were now living. He also told us that the coat of arms for this family was on the church choir loft. In 1806 the family owed 500 hectars of land and 32 families had worked for the very rich von Borck family. Currently there were only 19 families living in Schmelzdorf. There were only homes and the church in the village with the people having no possibility for work except for one family. As the man kept speaking, it was difficult for Anetta to interrupt to translate his words in English to me so I am not sure if I got all the information written down correctly. A Ludwig von Knurelsdorf (sp?) and Pletzen were also mentioned but I missed the rest of this information. The man said in earlier times people had been buried around the church but in 1860 the von Brock's opened another cemetery. This "new" cemetery had been in relatively good condition until the 1970's when Russians had come and destroyed it. He couldn't understand why they had done something like this. I believe he said it was the von Brock's who had three children, a daughter and two sons. One son received the land on the west side of the river and the other all the land on the east side, The son on the west side never married and liked to spend money and drink. The g-grandchildren who visit were descended from the son who inherited the land on the west side. I asked if he would mind if I took photos of the estate and was told we were welcome to take all the photos we wanted but also asked if he could have a copy of the photos sent to them. Meanwhile his wife had quietly joined our group and they posed for a photo with Anetta. The man explained that he made his living by going into Russia and buying up old military vehicles, bringing them back to his farm and fixing then up. Now he was mainly a mechanic. The man asked if we wanted to see the inside of the old barn. Contrary to the yard, it was neat and tidy with white washed walls and had vehicles parked inside. Another portion of the barn had not been whitewashed and was filled with auto and truck parts. He said this part of the barn had been used for horses. The old brick estate house was no longer livable as the roof was gone and he said he wasn't sure what to do with it but didn't want to tear it down. On a high old stone foundation, he and his wife had a new two story brick house built. Stone steps went up along one side with a stone patio on the top by the front door. We were invited to the house for coffee or tea. As we drink neither, we accepted glasses of water from their special spring and it was delicious. We were asked if we wanted to see more of their place and we walked behind the barn to a huge garden of vegetables and flowers. There was a small greenhouse (metal framework with plastic covering) filled with plants. We also saw tubs of flower bulbs that the wife had recently dug up. While we looked at the remains of the old water mill, the wife took off on her bicycle to meet us at the church with the key. We got the man's name and address and slowly bounced our way back up the path to the main road and the church. The wife was able to make much better time on the road than we could with the car. Mass is held in the Schmelzdorf church every second Sunday with services being shared by the Taczay (Ludwigshorst) church. After photographing the church, the wife asked if we wanted to see the old German cemetery. Again we went back down the road towards their farm but stopped just before the "T" in the road. She parked her bicycle on the edge of the road and plunged into the tall grass and went on into the woods that was on the right side of the road. After following her through the woods for a couple minutes we came upon the stone outlines of graves on the ground as well as broken bits and pieces of headstones. As I walked through the woods photographing the remains of the cemetery, I came upon the grave of a small child or baby. It was sad to see the grave stones had been destroyed but I was thrilled to have found the cemetery and know where family was buried. We thanked the farmwife, gave her a donation for the church, and headed down the road to Ludwigshorst.