Nove Hute
Location
Nove Hute (New Glassworks) is a small village lying on the border of the National Park Sumava in district Prachatice. You can find it about 13km (8 miles) from town Vimperk and 4km (2.5 miles) to the south from the Churanov ski centre. It spreads over Sumava plains at a height of about 950 meters (3,116 feet) to 1,050 meters (3,445 feet) above the sea level. The village lies on the top of the flat valley of Vydra (Otter) Brook (not the Vydra River) and Studeny (Cold) Brook, under the Prilba Mountain (1,219 meters - 4,000 feet above the sea level).
For trips to the attractive nearer or farer surroundings you can use many marked tourist paths.
Spending Leisure Time
Nove Hute offers excellent opportunities for summer and winter recreation. In winter good snow conditions are usual (the same or better than the nearby Churanov ski centre) as the elevation is relatively high.
There are 7 ski lifts (two of them for children) available on the Prilba Mountain suitable for less demanding downhill skiing. The longest ski lift is about 1,040 meters (3,412 feet) long with a drop of about 135 meters (442 feet). The other lifts are shorter, but located on steeper parts of the hill. For ski running the conditions are optimal. There are many maintained paths for ski running in the area of Kvilda - Horska Kvilda - Churanov.
In the spring, summer or autumn, the beautiful quiet countryside of Sumava offers excellent opportunities for hiking and biking. In the summer there are also several possibilities for swimming in the natural basins, or it is possible to go to Lipno artificial lake. In the late summer Sumava becomes a mushroom and blueberry picker's paradise.
Climate
The climate of Sumava is of transitional type (between oceanic and a continental one). This means there is relatively small difference in average temperature between winter and summer season. The rainfall is plentiful.
Nove Hute falls into the area of Sumava plains with cold and humid climate. The average year temperature lies in the interval of 4-5 °C (Prague 9-10 °C), the total year rainfall makes about 1,100 mm (Prague 500 mm). In Sumava Mountains we can find also places with even colder and more rainy climate, e.g. at the Vltava River Springs with temperature about 3 °C or the valley of Breznik over Modrava with total rainfall over 1,400 mm.
The snow cover reaches about 50 cm in Nove Hute.
In summer, the climate is fine, temperatures of summer heats are always lower than in the lowlands, because they are lowered by the altitude and fresh wind coming from Sumava forests. It's true, that the Czech side of Sumava has softer climate than places in Krkonose or Jizerske Hory (mountains in the north of Bohemia) with the comparable elevation.
We must mention, that Sumava climate was proved to warm up in recent decades. The finer the weather we can expect especially with regard to the amount of sunshine. In the autumn and in the winter, we often experience temperature inversions - high temperature differences between places with different elevation - e.g. Vimperk (the nearby town) having cloudy weather with temperature -5 °C and Nove Hute having clean, blue sky and +15 °C.
History
In the Middle Ages Sumava was covered with deep forests, though there were no ways to transport the wood for processing. That's why the wood was processed in the place. There were glassworks founded, since the production of glass required huge amounts of wood to be burned. As the first historically proven permanent settlement of the place nowadays called Nove Hute, was a glasswork whose manager was master Johann Pock (mentioned also as Bock). The glasswork existed as early as 1686 in the area of the today's Pok Hute (Bockhütte, along the road to Vimperk). The Pock family has been one of the oldest glassworker families, known even since the era before 30-Years War. Increasing glass market has led to construction of new glasswork in 1715. Since 1754 Benedikt Adler managed the glasswork.
With expansion of glass market, new glassworks emerge in the area. Until year 1825 there exist glassworks in the following places:
- Althütte - on the Prilba hillside, nowadays called Stare Hute (Old Glassworks).
- Planie - along the road from Kvilda to Vimperk, nowadays called Plane (The Plains).
- Unterkaltenbach - Neuhütten - at the Studeny (Cold) Brook, nowadays Nove Hute - Polesi.
The settlement emerged also in the following places:
- Kaltenbach - the centre of the village, where the church, the cemetery and the building of first hotel still stand.
- Böhmhäuser - the area where our pension Ceske Chalupy stands nowadays, to the south from the centre of the village.
- Granitz - along the road to Svinna Lada.
- Franzensthal - a little farer away, nowadays called Frantiskov, in the Vltava River valley.
The dwellers were coming both from German and Czech side. In the course of years the German settlement has prevailed and before the World War II almost all the villagers were Germans, except a few Czech clerks. The language in use was German and almost all people were of German nationality. Only names of some of the dwellers could sound like Czech - Matejka, Nowotny, Kralik, Hajek, Woldrich, Randak, Kubitschek and so on.
In the end of 19th century with development of new technologies and replacement of wood with coal, the glass industry in Sumava gets into a crisis. The fall of glassworks in Nove Hute gives rise to new business opportunities. In Frantiskov a paper-works have been founded and in place called Unterkaltenbach a factory producing matches is built. Besides these opportunities people have made their living on general wood-processing industry and agriculture. The corn, potatoes, cabbage and beet have been grown. Beef cattle breeding has made an important part of farming - in 1945 there were over 800 cows.
The beginning of tourist industry can be traced back to 1930, when first guests were coming for summer. In the village there were two inns with rooms for tourists. On the Prilba hillside ski fans have built a cottage for skiers.
As in other parts of the border region, majority of inhabitants sympathized with the national-socialist ideology represented by Sudetten-German party. The inhabitants of Kaltenbach (nowadays Nove Hute) became citizens of the Third Reich (Empire) and went to fight for it to the battlefronts of World War II. The anti-fascists, teachers and even handicapped people were persecuted and sent to concentration camps. Parts of Wehrmacht's military aircrafts named Messerschmitt have been built in an engineering factory at Frantiskov.
In 1945 1,442 inhabitants lived in 216 houses of Nove Hute. After the World War II the vast majority of inhabitants have been banished. The main part of ejection took place in 1946, but people continued leaving the border region in following years as well. Most of the abandoned houses were pulled down in forthcoming decades. The village uses its Czech name Nove Hute and the German name 'Kaltenbach' (Cold Brook) has not been used any more.
New inhabitants came from the nearby Czech villages in Zdikov area, but also from distant parts of the former Czechoslovakia. Nowadays about 70 people live permanently in Nove Hute. Since the seventieth tourist industry is evolving, mainly with the fall of communism.
What's Worth Seeing
There are many opportunities for hiking in the vicinity of Nove Hute. On a non-demanding trip over Plane to Churanov you could see a meteorological station, original Sumava buildings (architecture), cable railway, hotels and so on. Walking to the top of Prilba Mountain, a view to inland, mighty top of the Boubin Mountain, Smrcina, Plechy and Tristolicnik opens to you.
For a longer trip we can recommend a walk to Chalupska Slat with one of the biggest bog lakes in Czech republic, a romantic valley of river Losenice, meadows inside forests - Zlata Studna. A road suitable for biking leads to Jezerni Slat (a bog), a typical representative of mountain bogs with very cold climate. Both Chalupska Slat and Jezerni Slat bogs have a nature trail. You can also climb to an outlook-tower in Jezerni slat. The village Kvilda is worth seeing as well. You can see an original church covered with shingle there. In case of bad weather you can visit information centres of National Park Sumava in Kvilda and Svinna Lada.
A good walker easily reaches the former frontier zone (the well-known Iron Curtain from the Communist era), where he can admire beautiful countryside of Knizeci Plane and from Bucina on the border with Germany he can enjoy an excellent view of south Sumava and Germany. When the sky is clear, it is even possible to see the Alps and giants as Dachstein and Watzman. From Bucina one can walk to the springs of the Vltava River and through Kvilda back to Nove Hute. You can also use the frontier crossing for walkers on Bucina and make a trip to Germany.
Walking or better ski-running or biking you can reach the valley of Vydra River, valley of Breznik and windy Zhuri. Interesting places can be found also in the nearby town Vimperk, e.g. the castle with museum. It's worth trying to travel by train from Vimperk to the train station with highest elevation in Czech republic - Kubova Hut, from where you can make a trip to the Boubin Mountain with its well-known virgin forest.
Even farer areas of Sumava are easily reachable by National Park bus.
If you decide to come to Sumava, you will see for yourself, how much there is to see and to experience. One vacation is not enough to cover at least the most beautiful and interesting that Sumava offers to you.
