Two stones mark the confluence of the Werra and Fulda

The old Weserstein sits at the northern end of the Tanzwerder, a two-part river island where the Werra and Fulda surrender their individual names to become the Weser. It marks a point of departure, the beginning of the Weserberglandweg long-distance hiking trail.

In 1899, a local industrialist named Carl Natermann senior donated a massive block of Tertiary freshwater quartzite from the Kaufunger Wald to mark this spot. His son, Carl Natermann junior, carved the inscription. The stone, weighing about 70 Zentner, was inaugurated on September 2 - a date chosen for its patriotic weight as Sedan Day. The text on this original monument is earnest, describing how the rivers kiss and lose their names so that the Weser can flow to the sea.

Nearby stands a second, younger stone erected in 2000 for EXPO 2000. While the old stone is a tribute to national identity, the new one is a humorous fable by Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov. In Solakov's irony, the Fulda feels neglected because its letters were discarded during the merger.

For over a century, a chestnut tree planted in 1879 stood as a companion to the old stone. It survived the passage of time until a storm in October 2024 damaged the 145-year-old tree beyond repair, leaving the stone to stand alone. The contrast between the two monuments offers a shift in perspective - from the 19th-century desire to memorialize a unified nation to a 21st-century play on the tiny, poetic grievances of a riverbed.

Further north, the story of the Weser finds its final punctuation. In the district of Blexen, a third stone marks the river's end at the estuary. This Blexer Weserstein was inaugurated in 2021, exactly 122 years after the first stone in Hann. Münden. It features the course of the river carved into its face along with the names of important cities. It carries a final motto - Von Stein zu Stein, so soll es sein - a phrase that ties the entire journey together from the confluence to the sea.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons