Triberg: Waterfalls & Cuckoo Clocks

I don’t know what I pictured in my mind when I’d heard about the Black Forest in Germany, but it really is beautiful and such a magical place. It’s known for cuckoo clocks, the setting for many of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and it’s beautiful pined mountains and lakes.

Anytime we go anywhere I usually am sharing interesting facts and did bits about the place we are going to so that my kids will feel excited and have more of an attachment to the things we are seeing. Google is my friend for this! So here are some fast facts about the Black Forest and Triberg and the sites we explored last weekend.

I. The Romans gave the Black Forest its name. That’s one story anyway. On Roman maps it is noted as ‘silva nigra’ noting an unexplored area, or the forest on the border. It’s also truly dark in the forests here because of the thick pines. In the mid 11th and 12th centuries it was settled by farmers.

II. The Black Forest is where Cuckoo clocks began in the mid 17th century. During the slower winter months, farmers made and sold clocks to pay their bills. Clocks started rather simply in design, and moved to station style, then hunting style, and the chalet style we see now. One of my favorite things about visiting my Grandpa Biggs when I was a child was seeing his cuckoo clock he had picked up when he was in Germany. He would always move the minute hand so we could see the little big and hear the cuckoo when we came to visit.

There are lots of touristy shops in Triberg for clocks, and also some smaller family businesses where you can see clocks they design and make by hand. I’m so glad I asked a friend before we went so I knew what to look for. We stumbled upon “Kuckoo’s Nest” while we were on our hike and I was so happy! This was the shop my friend recommended. The owner is the third generation clockmaker in his family, in this shop. His clocks were truly the most beautiful ones I had seen and we loved hearing him share about each one we looked at. The shop is tiny and filled with wood carvings of all kinds. Once we picked out our clock, he taught us how to use and clean it, and boxed it up carefully for us. Since we were mid-hike, it was an awkward armful to carry back up the mountain, but worth it!

This is the one we picked and I love it. It has the cutest bluebird and plays both Edelweiss and Der Froehliche Wanderer “Happy Wanderer”, both traditional German songs.

III. Triberg has an incredible waterfall hike right at the top of the village. There are a few different trails you can take around this waterfall but all converge at a few points. I’m so glad we were there as the leaves were showing their best autumn colors! Even with the steps incline, the kids were totally captivated. I appreciated that the different signposts along the way were in both German and English so we could learn as we went. I loved the giant, moss-covered boulders wrapped in the roots of the tall trees. It was also interested to look up and see memorials carved into the stones from famous visitors in the 1800s and early 1900s.

This is just one tiny part. The falls go on and on down the whole mountain side.

We chose to take the trail that looped around to the small Baroque church called Maria in der Tanne. Around 1644, a young girl named Barbara Francis was miraculously healed from an eye disease from the waters of a spring in the location. Just a year later a local tailor was healed from his leprosy. The man placed a figure of Mary in a notch of a pine tree there to mark the spot. The site was forgotten until 1700 when a group of Tyrolian soldiers found the memorial. They built a small wooden church over the spring, later replaced by the stone church today by pilgrims who came to the site. The inside is truly beautiful and unique.

After our hike and cuckoo clock adventure, we stepped into the different shops along the Main Street, stopped for picnic lunch and then wandered through the Black Forest Museum. This museum began as a collection of folk and history items 140 years ago and the main hall has many of the original displays. I loved seeing the traditional dress, or Tracht (costume). Something you see everywhere in the Black Forest is the icon of the Bollenhut, or hat with red balls on top. These are worn by unmarried women. Married women wear ones topped in black balls. We were also taken with the bridal hats! These over-the-top head pieces did not look comfortable or easy to wear.

This is a colorized photo from 1898 of an unmarried woman in her traditional dress and Bollenhut.

The bridal party.

This area is also known for straw weaving, glass blowing and amazing woodcarving.

I kept seeing something we had seen in Austria and had to take a picture. This is something you will see more of in southern Germany, or areas that are mostly Catholic. On January 6, Three Kings Day, children dress up as the three kinds in the Christmas story, with one lead singer who carries a star. They go as a procession door to door singing traditional carols and blessing houses for the coming year. They collect donations for charities and write in chalk on the doors of houses and businesses, “20 * C + M + B + 22”. The first and last numbers mark the year. The asterisk is the Christmas star. C + M + B stand for the Latin phase “Christus mansionem benedicat” which means “May Christ Bless this House". I think this is such a sweet tradition. If you’re ever in Southern Germany or Austria, look for it!

We also stopped at the biggest cuckoo clock right before the hour so we could see it in action. This is one of the top tourist sites listed for Triberg and it’s a definite pass for me. We were underwhelmed.

The Black Forest is also known for ham ( I saw some at the bakery we stopped at) and Black Forest Cake. The latter has a shot of black cherry liquor so we made our own favorite version when we got home instead. Funny story — on one of our first days in Germany Matt grabbed a pint of Black Forest Cake ice cream for us all to try and oof! The burning and intense cherry cough syrup taste was enough for us to remember that alcohol is in a lot of things here. My kids were not a fan 😆.

I look forward to spending more time in the Black Forest and will remember that the first two weeks in October are so good to see the Fall colors and have good weather too.