Orscholz & the Saarschleife

Orscholz (Mettlach, Merzig-Wadern, Saarland) and Freudenburg (Trier district) are small villages near Trier, close to the German–Luxembourg–French border. They are the most precisely documented ancestral places on Jerry's paternal Maas / Fox (Fuchs) side. See Jerry's Family History (Ulcek / Fiedler).

Family connection

The GEDCOM records the earliest German forebears here (source: Ulcek Family Tree.ged):

• Johann (Johannes) Fox / Fuchs / Fockes — born and died at Orscholz (Mettlach, Merzig-Wadern, Saarland).
• Margreth (Margretha) Schmit / Schmitt — born and died at Orscholz.
• John Fox (Fuchs) Sr. — born at Orschholz, Saarburg, Trier.
• Anna Maas (Mauss) — born at Freudenburg, Trier.

Christy's research groups these as "Trier, Orscholz, Freudenburg — Germany" (source: Ulcek final PPT.pdf). The speaker notes add dated anchor points (source: Ulcek final PPT-notes.pdf):

• John Fox (Fuchs) Sr. — born 1 April 1830 at Orscholz (Saarburg/Trier), died 16 May 1919 in Mosel, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin — the family settled in a Wisconsin "Mosel" that echoes the Mosel they left. The 1880 census lists them in Mosel, WI as Fuchs, from "Pruswhia" (Prussia).
• John Maas and Anna Fox married 3 December 1881 at St. Wendel (Manitowoc County, WI); the record (his birthplace hard to read as "Prupia"/Prussia) names his parents Nicholas Maas and Helena, and hers John Fox and Anna. Their son John Maas (Edna's father) was born 13 September 1882 at St. Wendel; his parents died when he was about 8 (~1900) (source: Ulcek final PPT-notes.pdf). The deeper Maas line is a documented dead-end — many same-named couples in Wisconsin — and remains to be verified.

The wider district (the former Regierungsbezirk Trier) was part of the Holy Roman Empire and Catholic, ruled by France after the Revolution until the 1815 Congress of Vienna assigned it to Prussia; Orscholz was then a poor, agrarian village in the Prussian Rhine Province, under the Kreis of Saarburg with Trier as regional capital — economic hardship that drove emigration to the New World (source: Ulcek final PPT-notes.pdf).

Orscholz is a village in the municipality of Mettlach (Merzig-Wadern, Saarland), sitting directly above the Saarschleife, the great horseshoe bend of the Saar — the heart of the "Saarschleifenland" tourist region. Freudenburg, despite its proximity, is administratively just across the line in Rhineland-Palatinate (Trier-Saarburg district), not Saarland — an important distinction for records research. Freudenburg grew up around a castle built in 1337 by King John of Bohemia; the castle ruins, a Jewish cemetery first documented in 1694, and a former mikvah survive (source: jerry-alsace.md).

What to see

• Christy's research includes dedicated slides for both Orscholz and Freudenburg as ancestral villages (source: Ulcek final PPT.pdf).
• Cloef viewpoint — the classic free overlook of the Saarschleife, a 10-minute walk from the Landhotel (source: jerry-alsace.md).
• Treetop Walk Saarschleife (Baumwipfelpfad) at the Cloef — a 1,250 m accessible canopy walkway up to 23 m above the forest floor, leading to a 42 m semicircular spiral observation tower; on clear days you can see to the Vosges. Opened July 2016, open year-round except 24 December (source: jerry-alsace.md).
• Villeroy & Boch flagship and Erlebniszentrum/outlet in Mettlach (the company's home since 1809), the old abbey, Burg Montclair, and Château de Malbrouck just over the French border; kayaking on the Saar; the "Traumschleifen" dream-loop trails of the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park (source: jerry-alsace.md).

Where to stay & eat

• Buchnas Landhotel Saarschleife (Cloefstr. 44, Orscholz/Mettlach) — the special-occasion base for this whole northern cluster: family-run 4-star operating since 1936, a 10-minute walk from the Cloef viewpoint and treetop walk, with a 500 m² spa and two on-site restaurants (recent guest scores ~8.9/9.1). Its gourmet Buchnas Landküche is among Saarland's better kitchens; the casual Buchnas Dorfküche serves hearty traditional Saarland dishes (Dibbelabbes, Geheirate, Schwenkbraten) (source: jerry-alsace.md).
• Self-catering: Vis Saar Vie apartments near the Landhotel (~9.2 rating). Casual options in Orscholz are limited — head into Mettlach or Merzig for variety. The report recommends this as the base for 2–3 nights covering the Saarschleife pocket + Freudenburg (within ~15–20 min) (source: jerry-alsace.md).

Records research

This area was mostly Catholic: parish records are at the Bistumsarchiv Trier (Jesuitenstraße 13c, 54290 Trier; covers both the Saarland villages and Freudenburg). For civil registration, use the local Standesamt (Mettlach for Orscholz; Verbandsgemeinde Saarburg-Kell for Freudenburg) or the Landesarchiv Saarland (Saarbrücken). Because Freudenburg is in Rhineland-Palatinate, its older civil records may sit with the Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz even though its Catholic parish books go to Trier — contact both (source: jerry-alsace.md). See Trier.

Trip fit

Mettlach — the station for Orscholz/the Saarschleife — is on the Trier→Saarbrücken rail line, so the ancestral village is reachable car-free: regional train to Mettlach, then bus 207 (~10 min) or the seasonal Saarschleifenbus (line 225) to Orscholz/Cloef, plus a ~20-min walk to the viewpoint (source: bahn.de / Mettlach, checked June 2026). It is built into the optional Trier/Mosel detour in 12-Day Public-Transit Itinerary: Champagne · Alsace · Burgundy — and can even be a stop on the southbound Trier→Strasbourg leg.

Related pages

• Trier
• Mosel Valley
• Jerry's Family History (Ulcek / Fiedler)
• Jerry's Alsace–Saarland Heritage Research (source summary)
• 12-Day Public-Transit Itinerary: Champagne · Alsace · Burgundy