The Drachenfels Club was founded in 1873 under the chairmanship of Wilhelm Schepp. Its name came from the first project that the society undertook: to make the Dragon Cave (
Drachenhöhle) accessible. The cave lies under the
Drachenfels, a hill in the borough of
Bad Dürkheim, which is linked to the legend of the
Nibelung. Other renovations and the enclosure of spaces and natural monuments took place the following year. A short time later, probably around 1875, the new club was given the Laura Hut (
Laurahütte) in
Leistadt, which it had not built itself, but was able to use the legacy of the Retzer family from
Freinsheim. From 1896 the club built its most expensive structure: the
Bismarck Tower on the
Peterskopf. Innumerable new
refuge huts were built and countless renovations of buildings and natural sites followed. The club's activities were put on hold during the
Second World War. In 1947 it was re-founded in its present form. ==
Cultural monuments ==