"The Palatine Forest Club (German: Pfälzerwald-Verein) is a hiking club in the former Bavarian Palatinate, i.e. the southern part of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland county of Saarpfalz-Kreis. In 2011 it had 221 local branches with around 27,000 members.
The first branch was founded on 27 November 1902 in Ludwigshafen. Its first chairman was the industrialist, Anton Fasig. After other branches had formed the following year, the umbrella organization was founded in 1903. One of the founding members of the Palatine Forest Club, formed at the initiative of Ludwigshafen railway official, Otto Link, was the Palatine artist, Heinrich Strieffler. Karl Albrecht von Ritter was elected by the founding members as the managing director (Regierungsdirektor). Since 1908 the club has commemorated places of historical or natural significance by erecting and maintained a total of 306 so-called Ritter Stones (Rittersteine) - sandstone boulders with engraved inscriptions." - (en.wikipedia.org 30.01.2020)
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