The first settlements in the Rudolstadt area were closely connected to the Saale River.
A thick forest and an abundance of fish served to sustain life in the early days.
Products were transported by raft on the river.
Rafting is now a tourist attraction in Rudolstadts' neighbor Uhlstaedt.
The Saale River shaped the landscape of the area. In old pictures and paintings available at
Heidecksburg Castle the original shape of the Saale can be seen.
It even had two branches in the Cumbach area of Rudolstadt.
Many living things, the local flora and fauna, are nurtured by the Saale River.
The Saale has flooded from time to time and caused much damage to the city and citizens here.
The so called century floods came to Rudolstadt on the 14th of April 1994.
The floodwaters spread down the river and overflowed the banks.
With the coming of summer and lower rainfall, the Saale River recedes to a level that allows
for wading. Friedrich Schiller enjoyed wading here. He would often wade from Volkstedt to the
Great Meadow of Rudolstadt. Schiller always enjoyed visiting the banks of the Saale with his
wife Charlotte. They lived for a long time in Rudolstadt and came here often.
During times, there in other parts of the country only some kilometers
away terrible floods destroyed a lot (like in summer 2003), the river Saale
in Rudolstadt had only very small height of water. That is so since the year of 1995, because it
doesn't rain most time between April and August; only some thunderwether
is breaking the tropical heat in summer.
The first settlements in the Rudolstadt area were closely connected to the Saale River.
