Places on the bicycle route: Schönheide

In 2012, Schönheide, one of the largest independent towns of the Erzgebirge municipal district, looked back on a 475-year history.  The “Waldhufendorf” town, with about 4800 inhabitants, is located in the western foothills of the Erzgebirge on the border of Vogtland. It stretches 7 km along a side valley of the River Mulde, interspersed with scattered idyllic wooded areas and charming nooks.  Friends of nature, hikers and cyclists will enjoy this vast forested area.  
The first residents settled here around 1560 and were occupied with agriculture and mining.  In 1566 the Schönheide Hammer Works was founded. This is the oldest ironworks in Germany and has been in continuous operation down to the present day without work stoppage.  The brush manufacture in Schönheide since 1820 was rather impoverished until its boom in 1908.  
In addition to industrial-scale production, traditional handicrafts, trade and commerce are carried on up to this day in almost all areas of Schönheide.  Hotels, restaurants and other tourist services are well-developed.
The youngest inhabitants of Schönheide are looked after in four local day-care centers.  The “Geschwister-Scholl” Middle School has been modernized and equipped with special classrooms.  An attractive gymnasium attached to the school is not only used by students and teachers, but also by local sporting clubs.
Since 1995, senior citizens can spend the last years of their lives in the “Barbara-Uttmann-Stift,” a modern retirement and nursing home.  At the end of the nineties, a housing complex for assisted living was inaugurated and has since been operated by the Diakonie social-services organization in Eibenstock.  The landscaped “Fuchsstein” is an open-air stage for recreational purposes and provides good opportunities for cultural events.  
Schönheide features several larger shopping centers. Attractive business and residential buildings have been built by private developers in the town center.  In 1993, approx. 40 apartments were available in the area for “social housing.”
The cultural and recreational activities are also worth mentioning.  The town has a popular library as well as an indoor ice-skating rink in the place of the former outdoor swimming pool, which is an undisputed center of attraction for ice-skaters and ice-hockey fans from near and far.  
The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum was rebuilt in 1991 and has been a tourist attraction for many years.  Another unique leisure experience of the region is a ride on the “Wernesgruener Schienen-Express” train, which runs on the 11-km railway line to the Hammerbruecke in Vogtland through beautiful scenery.  
The Brush Museum of Local History is located in the restored half-timbered house “Alte Pfarre” next to the Martin Luther Church and offers traditional exhibitions and events.
A large pyramid is located on the newly built square in the center of the town. It turns during the Advent and Christmas season.
The Schönheide reservoir is an idyllic recreational area for swimming and relaxing.  Well-marked trails and many destinations in the vicinity of Schönheide are attractive year round.  The annually held “Schönheider Wandertag”—a day for hiking from Schönheide—is now widely known and each year more enthusiasts take part.  
The spacious nature reserve surrounding the village is an ideal landscape in the winter months for cross-country skiing. When there is enough snow, the Tourism Association prepares skiing tracks for a cross-country ski run approx. 30 km long around the 795 m high Kuhberg mountain, with connecting ski runs to the surrounding towns.