The Lindens of Nattwerder

Potsdam protects these three limes for their rarity, their character and their place in local history, and counts them as one natural monument: number 8 on the city's register. They are small-leaved limes, measured at 4.70, 4.10 and 3.90 metres round, and they stand within about twelve metres of one another. The register places them at the roadside of the Mühlendamm and in the churchyard of Nattwerder's village church. It does not say which trunk stands where, so we treat the three as one stop and have put the pin on the largest. Nattwerder is a hamlet by the Havel, about twelve kilometres west of central Potsdam. The register does not spell out the local history it has in mind, and no source we found gives the trees an age. We will not invent either. If you know how old they are, or why the village values them, tell us. We should also be plain about how recently anyone has looked. The city still lists all three, but we have found no recent photograph or sighting of them. If you go, a picture of the three trunks would be the first we could show here. You can see them from the village street. We have not checked when the churchyard gate is open. Small-leaved limes flower late, in July, and that is the month to come, when the blossom scents the air around the church.