 Districts of the state of Rhein-Pfalz (Palatinate)The part where our ancestors lived was largely known as "Simmern" at the time, and the city of that name still serves as the district seat. Our "Thomas" in-law family was from the municipal area (Verbandsgemeinde) of Simmern, but our first known Mühleisen ancestors lived a few miles to the southeast in the Rheinbollen municipal area. Hunsrück is also the name of a low mountain range (1000 to 1400 meters above sea level) of the Soon Forest. The range, situated along the southern perimeter of the district, is the predominant geographical feature. About 40% of Hunsrück is covered by forest. http://www.soonwald.de/html/naturpark.html The towns of interest lie along the bottom of the northern slope of the mountains. They were connected long ago by an ancient Roman road that went from the Rhine River port of Bingen, west to Trier. Today that road is known as the "Ausonius Way," after the Roman poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius, who romanticized his travels in the area about 370 AD. Sections of the original road still survive and serve as hiking trails through the countryside. (Pack the picnic basket!) http://www.maasberg.ch/eRoemerstrasse.html  This photo of the town of Rheinbollen was taken from a peak at the eastern end of the Hunsruck range.
 Turning the camera slightly to the right and one mile away, we find the village of Dichtelbach, where our immigrant ancestor Johann Jacob Mühleisen was born in 1719. |