In the early morning hours

 of February 2nd 1945, the advancing Russian 8th Army, headed for Berlin, enters the small Prussian town of Sonnenburg. What they find in the Castle and Church of Sonnenburg, and later take with them, is a unique cultural treasure, today known as the Sonnenburg Collection; 1140 wooden panels representing the Coats of Arms of Royal and Noble individuals, mostly of German families. The Johanitter Order, a Protestantic branch of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, is the World's oldest existing spiritual Order. It is rooted in the Pilgrimage, and dates back to A.D. 1080.Since 1426, the town of Sonnenburg had been the Order's main European stronghold. Numerous historically important persons like the Princes of Nassau, Paul von Hindenburg, the Princes of Prussia, the Land Counts of Brandenburg, von Zeppelin to mention but a few, donated their families' Coats of Arms, as they became accepted Knights of the Order.

Herr Joachim Werner Graf von Bülow 1870 and Herr Friederich Frey Herr von Bühlo 1728 and Carl Ulrich von Bülow 1899 and Herr Bernhard Graf von Bülow 1840 

For many years the Collection was regarded as lost. Then, in the Eighties, all panels were found in the cellars of the Royal Castle of Warsaw during restoration work. They were packed in heavy wooden crates and had obviously been stored here since the end of World War II. Most of them were in remarkably good shape. As the conferences of Jalta and Teheran had reshaped the boarders of Europe, the town of Sonnenburg no longer was German territory. It was Polish, and bore the name of Slonsk. Thus the Sonnenburg Collection was considered Polish property and confiscated. In 1989, the Polish Government decided to sell the Collection.

Bernhard II von Bulow(1410-1413) 

When Heringsdorf was founded in 1818 it was not more than a small community of fishermen. The lord George Bernhard von Bülow decided to make more of the village and in 1825 the first three manors were built, among them was the famous "Weiße Schloss" (white castle). The king of Prussia ordered the construction of the Neo-Gothic church with its three nave architecture. The economy of Heringsdorf prospered quickly after the setting up of the "Corporation of the seaside resort Heringsdorf". Soon the town became the seaside resort of the high society. The bridge across the sea which was build between 1891 and 1892 had a length of 500 metres / 1640 feet. The bridge with its turret like superstructure, was set on fire in 1958 and burned down completely.

Sternwarte der Kammerherrn von Bülow zu Bothkamp

BULOW PLANTATION RUINS HISTORY
In 1821, Major Charles Wilhelm Bulow acquired 4,675 acres of wilderness bordering a tidal creek that would later bear his name. Using slave labor, he cleared 2,200 acres and planted sugar cane, cotton, rice and indigo. Major Bulow died in 1823, leaving the newly established plantation to his seventeen year old son, John Joachim Bulow.After completing his education in Paris, John Bulow returned to the Territory of Florida to manage the plantation. Young Bulow proved to be very capable. John James Audubon, the famous naturalist, was a guest at the plantation during Christmas week 1831. In a letter to a patron, Audubon wrote:

"Mr. J.J. Bulow, a rich planter, at whose home myself and party have been for a whole week under the most hospitable and welcome treatment is now erecting some extensive buildings for a sugar house."

Bulowville, Florida
December 31, 1831 Bulow's sugar mill, constructed of local"coquina" rock, was the largest mill in East Florida. At the boat slips, flatboats were loaded with barrels of raw sugar and molasses and floated down Bulow Creek to be shipped north. This frontier industry came to an abrupt end at the outbreak of the Second Seminole War. In January 1836, a band of raiding Seminole Indians, resisting removal to the West, looted and burned the plantation. It would never recover. Bulow returned to Paris where he died the same year.Today, the coquina walls and chimneys of the sugar mill remain standing as a monument to the rise and fall of the sugar plantations of East Florida.

The State of Florida has since made the ruins a state park, Bulow Plantation Ruins. It is located only about one-half mile north of Halifax Plantation's Phase I on Old King's Road. It is a beautiful and photogenic site that should be seen by all guests. The park is open year-round from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a nominal admission charge. Be sure to bring your camera.
During a round of golf at Halifax Plantation you'll discover that a Golfer's Natural Sanctuary aptly describes this beautiful course.