The Alter Hafen in the Carlstadt district is defined by a narrow, stone-lined basin that cuts deep into the city grid from the Rhine. Built in the late eighteenth century, this harbor served as a vital loading point for coal and timber arriving by barge. In eighteen thirty-eight, a local merchant named Heinrich Schwanbeck lost a fortune here when an overloaded vessel capsized during a sudden winter storm, spilling his entire cargo of seasoned oak into the icy, churning water.
Alter Hafen
natural