Pleidelsheim: Half-timbered houses, tobacco history and meadows

Pleidelsheim combines historic buildings and local history with a recreational area along the Old Neckar. During your stay, you can focus on the history of the old town centre, plan walks and cycling trips in the meadow valley, or combine both. The history of tobacco and asparagus is also part of the town’s character.

Historic traces in the townscape

St. Mauritius Church was built in the 14th century on the site of a Carolingian church. As a fortified church, it was given a mighty choir tower with a rib-vaulted ceiling. Inside are gallery parapet paintings with distinctive subject matter, an organ with a Baroque façade, and a crucifix. In this one building, several different aspects of local history come together: the earlier church, its defensive function and the interior furnishings.

The Old Town Hall dates from 1613/14. The half-timbered building rests on an impressively high solid ground floor in the form of an arcaded walkway. Originally, it had open round-arched arcades; the ground floor served as a market hall. Another early building is the Kelter, also known as the New Mill: built in 1511 under Württemberg rule, it is one of Pleidelsheim’s oldest buildings. The historic townscape also includes the many surviving tobacco-drying sheds and the Hasenhof. This was part of one of the town’s first large farm complexes, later divided up, and features richly decorated stone entrance gates.

The Historic Village Walk leads through the old town centre and past numerous gable-fronted half-timbered houses with solid ground floors. The route complements individual buildings with a broader view of the townscape’s architecture. Visitors interested in historic buildings will find a range of features here: half-timbering, solid ground floors, arcades and stone entrance gates.

Tobacco history, museums and memorial sites

Pleidelsheim’s history is closely connected with tobacco cultivation. Tobacco played a particularly important role in the town’s past, and cultivation continued there until 1991. The many surviving tobacco-drying sheds are reminders of this local tradition and are part of the town’s distinctive character. The name of the Tobacco, Asparagus and Local History Museum, which opened on 16 May 2010, also points to two important themes in the town’s history. The museum covers Pleidelsheim’s tobacco and asparagus history as well as earlier life in the home and on the farm; it contains around 1,300 exhibits.

Local history can also be seen in smaller collection pieces and works of art. The collection of the Pleidelsheim Protestant Church Museum includes a church door from 1787 and parts of the cornice from the old pulpit, dating to 1613. The Asparagus Fountain is a fountain sculpture commissioned in 1988, made in the workshop of Pleidelsheim stonemason and sculptor Jörg Failmezger; it commemorates the local asparagus culture. The historic background of the Frog Fountain on Friedrichstraße is different: it is connected with the former popular street name “Froschgasse” (“Frog Lane”) and the frogs in nearby Riedbach.

Another part of the town’s history is the “Russian Cemetery” memorial in the municipal forest. It is connected with the history of prisoners of war and forced labourers. Together with the historic buildings and museum themes, it offers another way to explore Pleidelsheim’s past.

Meadow valley and recreation by the Old Neckar

Pleidelsheimer Wäldle is a recreational area in Pleidelsheim. The broad meadow valley, with the green ribbon of the Old Neckar, invites visitors to walk and cycle. When planning your stay, you can consider this natural area as a focus in its own right, alongside the buildings and local history.

The Old Neckar and Pleidelsheim Meadow Valley are designated nature reserves. Parts of the Natura 2000 site “Neckar between Freiberg and Heilbronn” lie within Pleidelsheim’s municipal area and are identical to the “Wiesental” and “Altneckar” nature reserves. Pleidelsheim’s sundials are also part of a walking route. This offers a range of outdoor activities and themes: nature, walks and cycling, as well as the sundials.

Getting here and choosing your stay

Pleidelsheim is well connected by the A81 motorway on the Stuttgart–Heilbronn route, with its own junction. Both areas of interest offer practical starting points for planning your stay and can also be combined.

Discover more destinations: Ditzingen, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Korntal-Münchingen, Tamm, Freiberg Am Neckar, Remseck Am Neckar, Ingersheim, Marbach Am Neckar

Return to the main travel overview: Ludwigsburg.