Hohenfinow

Hohenfinow is located about 8 km (5.0 mi) east of Eberswalde. It is part of a rural area on the northeastern rim of the Barnim Plateau, south of the Finow River and the Finow Canal. The glacial valley in the north with the neighbouring municipality of Niederfinow separates it from the adjacent Uckermark region. The historic village centre is surrounded by extended fields, meadows and pine forests. A fortress overlooking the Finow valley and a ford across the river was erected about 1220, after the area settled by Polabian Slavs had been conquered by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg. The foundations of the parish church date back to around 1250. The settlement itself was first mentioned in a 1334 deed issued by the Wittelsbach margrave Louis I. Temporarily held by Count Henry Matthias of Thurn, the estates were sold to the Pfuel noble family in 1614. During the indecisive stance of Brandenburg in the Thirty Years' War, Hohenfinow was devastated by a contingent under Ernst von Mansfeld in 1626, and again by Imperial, Saxon and Swedish troops in the following years.