The modern age did not stop ahead of the Spreewald. With building the road network the typical rowing boat of the spreewald as a means of transportation disappeared from the Spreewald. You are rarely able to see a real farmer with a rowing boat at the transport of hay, cucumbers or cattle. The bigggest chance to see that private rowing boat you have in Lehde or Leipe.

The rural life used to emboss the view. Grass, hay, the vegetable crop and the cattle were transported with the rowing boat. The fisherman's rowing boat is the smallest under the  rowing boats one. For the transport of cattle the "ox rowing boat" was the most ideal and biggest rowing boat.

The rowing boat serves mainly for the tourist transport today. You can even watch the post woman and the refuse collection on the water in the area around Leipe on the water unless in the winter months. Leipe was attainable only on the water up to the year 1968, until the building of the dam street. The harvest is still also driven home by some smallholders by rowing boat, if also no longer so exclusive like some years ago. So now-a-days the rowing boat is still indispensable in the Spreewald .

I don´t think that people still drive to work by rowing boats because most of the post are in larger towns, where it is better to go by bus or car.

The post is delivered by Mrs. Jutta Pudenz, Germany´s sole post deliverer by rowing boat, in the heritage-protected place Lehde from April until October. She is doing this work for 17 years.

Her tour is up the flow on about eight kilometers. Eighty households receive the post and packets by rowing boat.

Mrs. Pudenz and her rowing boat are a popular photo motive for guests of the Spreewald.

Who is lucky to live in a typical Spreewald house also carries any amount responsibility for the mostly heritage-protected special house with the reeds roof. Again and again there is something to do. The reeds must be packed down, filled up again, the surface has to be cleaned by moss and lichens.

What cheaply grew once in front of the front door must be bought expensively today. About 30,000 euro costs the new one cover of a residential building. Private monument owners can apply delivery to the preservation of historical monuments. But the funds are limited. Only 15 roofs can be delivered in whole Brandenburg  in one year.

After 1900 more and more houses were built from stone after a municipal example. You can see typical Spreewald houses in Leipe, Lehde and Burg. Burg is the greatest scattered settlement of Germany. About 650 court places were here once.

For the Burger scattered settlement even a planning primer was completed in the year 2003. It contains structural and scenic development suggestions as well as legal specifications for the construction and preservation of a typical court plant.