Freilichtmuseum Scherzenmühle

The Scherzenmühle open-air museum stands beside a small river in the Fichtelgebirge hills near Weidenberg in Upper Franconia. A working water-powered grain mill from the 19th century, it still turns its overshot wheel to grind wholemeal flour. The timber-framed building and its outbuildings are protected as a monument and filled with period tools and household items. The Fichtelgebirgsverein restored the crumbling mill in 1986 and reopened it to the public five years later. Regular milling demonstrations let visitors watch the wheel lift sacks of grain and the machinery turn stones. Seasonal festivals bring costumed craftsmen and live music to the riverside clearing. Inside the main mill house, flour-dusted floors and creaking floorboards evoke an earlier time. A row of stalls behind the mill now holds farm implements, from scythes to seed drills. Beyond the barn, the riverbank path leads past wildflower meadows where dragonflies dart over the water.