It’s 1936 and Napp Hill is going to be leveled. The road is being extended in the area still owned by the Napp Family.

The old name of the Napp Hill still lingers, 25 years after the town of Holitzberg was built. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the town, I will tell you about the Napp Hill history and the family that lived there.

Through the high hedge that hides the property, on the west side of the Tangstedter Land road, was the reed roofed farm house, with the front entrance. But no one used this entrance, instead, family and friends would go around the back to the kitchen entrance.

Rather than coming from the road everyone used the path leading away from the road, leading you up to the little woods just to the south of the farm.

Using a path through the tall hedge, one entered the garden path, between the vegetable garden and the lawn to the kitchen entrance.

On the left was an antique gazebo which had been retired from its early life as a sausage vendor stand in the city, downtown Hamburg.

Also on the left, on the garden path was a large patch of rosehip bushes. (young Walter recalls they used to open the rosehip pods which make for some very fine itching powder, which he used to drop down his sister’s back) The rosehips were made into a delicious jam, lovingly created by Mrs. Marie Napp.

Further on there was a space in the yard for chickens, where, upon occasion, a housecat lurked.

Behind that was the barn, the pig sty, and all the farm implements.

Beyond that you would find wetlands, the crop fields, fields of clover, and grassland.

For the children this was a fabled imaginary place.

Aside from their own lands, the Napp family also leased nearby lands to grow their crops.

The northern half of the house had a wide patio with access to the rooms where the farmhands stayed, and access to the stalls for the cows and horses.

In the attic was the hayloft, and in front of the main patio, the farm watchdog kept guard.

In the southern portion of the farmhouse were the living quarters of the family.

The ground floor rooms were all named according to purpose. For example, there was the guest room, the Sunday room (i.e. a parlor), the girls’ room, the grandpa (“Opa”) room, and the everyday room. On the second floor were all the bedrooms.

The kitchen later had an extension added, a cold kitchen where all the meals were eaten in the summer time. Sometimes the farmhands also ate there.

The inhabitants of the farm were Mr. & Mrs. G Napp and their three children, and the old Grandfather Heinrich Napp. He used to live in the city (Hamburg), but in 1894 he took over the farm, and with the farm came a maid, a farm hand, and one uncle (??)

On nights with thunderstorms, the family had to be on guard for lightning strikes. (they later installed 2 lightning rods to reduce the risk).

Although they had a busy schedule, there was always time for guests; their friends and family to drop by.

In the 1930s the Hill was leveled to make room for a highway and a military barracks. Now that there was a deep hole next to the farm house, the family feared that it and part of the farm would one day slide in. It was obvious they would have to leave the house and look for a new home and livelihood.

In the spring of 1945, a British bomber crash landed on the then empty farm house, completely destroying it.

(The author, Rosie Langemann, says her husband took parts of the crashed plane and made radio chassis from the fuselage).