Ruthweiler

Ruthweiler is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kusel-Altenglan, whose seat is in Kusel. Ruthweiler lies in the Pfeffelbach valley, also called the Aalbach valley, which here is quite narrow. The village sits on the valley floor at an elevation of roughly 270 m above sea level, and looming above it is the great complex of Castle Lichtenberg, which stretches up to the municipal limit, but actually stands within neighbouring Thallichtenberg’s limits. Breaking through the mountain plateau in a narrow gorge with steep rocky sides is the Pfeffelbach. These crags’ appearance, however, has been altered by man's quarrying activities. Also, the hills on the brook's right bank reach higher than 400 m above sea level (Niederberg, 446 m) while those on the left bank reach roughly 350 m. The continuous woodlands stretch east of the village on the Niederberg. The municipal area measures 332 ha, of which 36 ha is wooded. Ruthweiler borders in the northeast on the municipality of Körborn, in the south on the town of Kusel (constituent communities of Diedelkopf and Bledesbach), in the west on the municipality of Pfeffelbach and in the northwest on the municipality of Thallichtenberg. Also belonging to Ruthweiler is an outlying hospital complex, the Krankenhaus Kusel. Ruthweiler was originally a linear village (or by some definitions, a “thorpe”) with the built-up area on the brook's right bank. As early as the 19th century, sidestreets and bulges in the otherwise linear built-up area began to appear. A new building zone arose on the mountain slope over on the left bank. Of the two former estate mills, one is found at the village's upper end and the other at the lower end. In the middle of the village stands the former schoolhouse, now the village community centre. The graveyard lies down the valley at a junction on the road to Kusel.