South of the railway tracks in Szczecin's Zdroje district begins a forest in which a park was once laid out beside a chalk mine. Today Zdroje Forest Park is the north-western corner of the Beech Forest, and deep inside it grow yews from the former Toepffer park and an oak which, according to Wikipedia, was planted in 1821 by two brothers, later rulers.

A park in the forest: 173 hectares of beech woodland

According to Wikipedia, Zdroje Forest Park covers 173 ha and forms part of the municipal forests of Szczecin. Mainly beech grows here, and alongside it oak and pine. The terrain is varied, because it lies on the northern part of the Beech Hills. The entry on the park lists trees of monumental size, including an oak with a girth of 474 cm and a common yew with a girth of 143 cm. The park belongs to the Szczecin Landscape Park “Puszcza Bukowa”.

Wikipedia also lists viewpoints: Wzgórze Akademickie, Oko na Szczecin, Skórcza Góra and Wzgórze Czanowskie. One of them is Wzgórze Akademickie.

The Toepffer park and the Stern cement works

According to Wikipedia, in 1862 the Stern Portland cement factory was established here, and the nearby chalk and marl mine supplied it with raw material. The entry on Emerald Lake states that the owner of the cement works was Albert Eduard Toepffer, who in 1880 initiated the construction of an artificial grotto, “Za Łukami”. His son Helmut took over management of the cement works at the end of the 19th century and from 1906 built a palace on Grabowa Street, the ruins of which stand to this day.

Wikipedia records the family's surname in three versions. The entry on the reserve speaks of the Toepfer park, the entry on the forest park of the Töpfer family, and the entry on the lake of the Toepffers, and the details about Albert Eduard and Helmut keep to this last spelling. The entry on the reserve is based on a register of protected sites kept by the manager of the landscape park and describes Toepfer as the owner of the nearby chalk mine. Wikipedia in the entry on the forest park calls the family co-owners of the Stern cement works. Whether this is the same garden that stood by the palace or a different one, the sources do not settle.

The yews of the Zdroje reserve

The Zdroje nature reserve is only 2.12 ha and is a floristic reserve. It was established by an order of the minister of forestry and the timber industry of 5 November 1959, and the aim of protection is, according to Wikipedia, to preserve a site of regenerating common yew within the limits of its geographical range. The yew therefore grows here at the edge of its natural range. A protection plan of 2016 placed the reserve under active protection, and the whole area lies within the Natura 2000 site Wzgórza Bukowe.

The reserve was created on the site of the former Toepffer park. The manager of the landscape park writes that after the park was destroyed the yews ran wild and now grow in the forest, just as they once did. The reserve lies about 0.6 km south-west of Emerald Lake. Beside it runs the yellow Trail to the Swedish Stone (Szlak do Szwedzkiego Kamienia), 8.0 km long according to Wikipedia. It begins in Podjuchy, passes through the Bukowe Zdroje reserve and ends at the Swedish Stone. Because the reserve has its own rules of protection, it is worth checking with the forest manager about movement on its grounds.

The Prince's Oak: the year 1821 and two girths

According to Wikipedia in the entry on the Beech Forest, the Prince's Oak (Dąb Książęcy) grows in Zdroje Forest Park, west of Emerald Lake. It was planted on 31 May 1821 by Frederick William IV, later king of Prussia, and his brother William I, later German emperor. Wikipedia gives the girth of the trunk here as 365 cm.

Another list in Wikipedia, the compilation of natural monuments in Szczecin, describes a pedunculate oak in the Zdroje locality, near the Szmaragd inn. It has a girth of 460 cm and a height of 29 m, and under the unofficial name “dęby książęce” (Princes' Oaks) it appears in it as a natural monument from 1989. If this is the same tree, the difference in girth is almost a metre, and in the name there is once a singular and once a plural. Wikipedia in the entry on the Beech Hills lists the “Dęby Książęce” in Zdroje. These entries do not say on what occasion the tree was planted.

A walk around Emerald Lake

The lake was formed in a mine working. According to Wikipedia, on 16 July 1925 a water-bearing layer of sand was struck in the southern wall and water flooded the working. Today at Emerald Lake begins the easiest route through the park, the Family Trail through Zdroje Forest Park. Wikipedia gives 2.5 km, the park manager 2.7 km. The yellow trail starts at the viewing bridge, after about 0.5 km reaches Polana Widok (the View Glade) with a panorama of Szczecin and a place for a campfire, at the first kilometre passes the Za Łukami grotto, and ends at Skórcza Góra, the second viewpoint. Along the route stand shelters from the Second World War. The description of the route dates from 2007, so check the markings on the ground before setting out.