Visit to Kutzenhausen and the Maison rurale de l’Outre-Forêt

My summary

A little history

Kutzenhausen is an ancient farming village , first mentioned in the 13th century. For a long time, it lived off agriculture, particularly tobacco growing, which was very common throughout the Outre-Forêt region.

More unusual is another part of its history: oil. Yes, you read that right! The region has also played an important role in France’s oil history.

Not far from Kutzenhausen, in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, the world’s very first oilfield was located as early as the 18th century. This activity spread to several surrounding communes, including Kutzenhausen, where drilling was carried out. The Musée Français du Pétrole, located just a few kilometers away, provides an opportunity to learn more about this little-known but astonishing history.

Visit to the Maison rurale de l’Outre-Forêt

The Maison Rurale de l’Outre-Forêt is the living heart of Kutzenhausen and without doubt the best gateway to the region.

This heritage interpretation center is housed in an authentic late-18ᵉ century farmhouse, perfectly restored with its outbuildings: barn, stable, coach house, distillery and vegetable garden. Here you can literally immerse yourself in the everyday rural life of yesteryear between 1920 and 1950. A bit like the Alsace Ecomuseum in spirit, only much smaller of course.

Inside, each room has been carefully reconstructed. We find the Stub, the main room of the house, furnished as it was in those days (it’s superb!), but also the kitchen with its large earthenware stove, the alcove bedroom and the workshops where wood, linen and earth were worked. Everything is realistically staged, using period objects and furniture, to bring to life a typical Outre-Forêt farmhouse.

The museum is not limited to the interior: the tour continues into the courtyard and farm outbuildings, where you can see tobacco-growing tools, distilling machines and fruit-processing equipment. The vegetable and medicinal garden allows visitors to discover the local plants grown in the past.

Throughout the year, the Maison Rurale hosts temporary exhibitions and numerous events, including weaving, basketry and pottery workshops, distillation and bread-oven firing demonstrations, artisan markets, and even festive events such as the Fête de l’Artisanat and Noël à la campagne. Attractive events for families and heritage enthusiasts alike!

Discovering Kutzenhausen’s heritage

Kutzenhausen has retained the charm and authenticity of the villages of the Outre-Forêt region. It’s a small village, but well worth a stroll before or after a visit to the Maison rurale. Strolling through its quiet streets, you’ll discover beautiful half-timbered houses with flower-decorated facades, vast enclosed courtyards and farm barns typical of the region. Together, they form a particularly well-preserved rural heritage.

Among the buildings of note, theProtestant church catches the eye with its slender steeple and sober classical facade. The village also boasts a Catholic church. Equally impressive is the building of the former bailiwick of the Sires de Fleckenstein, which housed the former presbytery.

Also of note are several 18ᵉ and 19ᵉ century farmhouses lined up along the main street, as well as an outrigger well and old wooden tobacco drying sheds, still visible in some yards.

In their own way, these elements tell the story of daily life in a farming village, where tobacco grew alongside orchards, cereal fields and, later, the first oil installations in the Pechelbronn basin.

A 4.5km discovery trail leads from Kutzenhausen to Oberkutzenhausen along paths between fields and forest edges, with picnic tables.

In the village, you’ll also find explanatory panels on the history and architecture of the remarkable buildings (don’t hesitate to take a tour in addition to the discovery tour, or you’ll miss some!).

Kutzenhausen fun walk

If you’d like to take a walk with your children, you can pick up the Kutzenhausen fun walk booklet from the Alsace Verte tourist office,

The fun walk follows the same route as the discovery tour, but with the booklet you’ll have little games to keep your children occupied and make the walk both fun and instructive!