Dern, Carl-Reinhard

Senior Forestry Councillor, Member of the Citizens' Committee

born: 13.08.1783 in Wiesbaden

died: 15.10.1863 in Wiesbaden

The son of a Nassau civil servant, he trained in forestry. In 1808 he was a forest councillor, in 1811 a forest assessor and as such belonged to the ducal servants.

In 1809, the Nassau court chamber leased him the pheasantry with the associated estate for cultivation. In 1815, he suggested creating a planting garden here for the cultivation of trees. This important facility for the reforestation of the Nassau forests proved to be quite successful.

Dern continued his career, was promoted to Chief Forester in 1824 and was responsible for the Wiesbaden inspection district, which included the forest districts of Nauroth, Chausseehaus, Platte, Königstein, Hofheim, Langenhain and Kronberg. In 1851, he was a member of the so-called citizens' committee, a kind of precursor to the town council.

In 1811, he married Sophie Amalie Rullmann from Kirberg, whose mother was née Lehr. Presumably due to these family ties, the Nassau personal physician Friedrich August Lehr bequeathed the so-called Koppensteiner Hof to Dern in 1831. The farm and the adjoining land remained in the possession of the Dern family until 1868, from which the current name Dern'sches Gelände is derived.