Stubbendorf is a municipality in the Rostock district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, and is part of the Amt Tessin. It lies approximately 30 km east of Rostock in a ground moraine landscape sloping toward the Recknitz river valley. Its territory includes the village of Ehmkendorf. As of 2023, Stubbendorf had a population of 164.
First recorded in 1371, the village was for centuries an agricultural estate. Two restored manor houses and the former site of a wild apple tree once considered the oldest in Germany are among its points of interest.
Stubbendorf occupies 9.65 km<sup>2</sup> of gently undulating terrain at about 30 m above sea level. From the northwest the land drops roughly 20 m toward the Recknitz valley, which forms the southeastern boundary of the municipality. A small stream called the Maibach flows southward through the municipal area into the Recknitz. Part of the Maibachtal nature reserve (148 ha), straddling the border between the Rostock and Vorpommern-Rügen districts, lies within Stubbendorf's territory.
Neighbouring municipalities are Dettmannsdorf to the northeast (in Vorpommern-Rügen), Thelkow to the south, and Gnewitz to the southwest. Ehmkendorf, an Ortsteil on the edge of the Recknitz valley, is the municipality's other settlement.
Stubbendorf was first documented in 1371 under the name Stubbendorpe, when Duke Albrecht II of Mecklenburg pledged the village to the Diocese of Schwerin. For several centuries it belonged to the von der Lühe family as part of the Dettmannsdorf estate. As a secondary operation of the larger property, the village served primarily as a sheep farm; records from 1651 and 1751 each list six farmers, with the later record noting 80 inhabitants.
Ownership changed hands several times in the late 18th century before Georg Friedrich von Prollius acquired the estate in 1802. Stubbendorf remained the Prollius family's seat for nearly a century and a half. Max von Prollius, who inherited in 1864, served from 1875 as Mecklenburg-Schwerin's envoy to Prussia and as the state's first plenipotentiary to the Bundesrat.
Between 1827 and 1829 the physician and engineer Ernst Alban (1791âÂÂ1856) lived in Stubbendorf, where he married a local estate owner's daughter and conducted scientific research. He published in Polytechnisches Journal and later founded the first mechanical engineering workshop in Mecklenburg, gaining recognition as a pioneer of high-pressure steam engine construction.
Around 1900 the original manor house was destroyed by fire. Hellmuth von Prollius commissioned architect Paul Korff to build a replacement in 1903âÂÂ1904. A glassworks had operated in the Maibachtal area from 1764 to 1768.
After World War II the Prollius family was expropriated under the land reform in the Soviet occupation zone. Refugee families were housed in the manor, which later served various purposes during the GDR period. In 1998 private owners purchased and restored the building; it now operates as holiday accommodation.
Built in 1903âÂÂ1904 to designs by Paul Korff, the Gutshaus Stubbendorf is a single-storey rendered building with a high mansard roof and a two-storey central risalit displaying the von Prollius coat of arms. The foundation is constructed of granite boulders, and the surrounding park contains mature beech trees.
Dating to approximately 1790, the Gutshaus Ehmkendorf was expanded in 1864 into a three-wing complex with neo-Gothic elements, including a stepped gable on the central projection. Listed as a heritage site in 1996, it was fully renovated between 2005 and 2007 and subsequently opened as the Wildkräuterhotel (Wild Herb Hotel). It is set in a 4.5-hectare garden and sculpture park overlooking the Recknitz valley.
A European wild apple (Malus sylvestris) stood about 1 km east of the village on the road to Ehmkendorf. With an estimated age of 400 to 500 years and a trunk circumference of 4.5 m, it was considered the oldest wild apple tree in Germany. Cyclone Kyrill in January 2007 destroyed more than half its crown, and the tree collapsed on 23 April 2010. Before its loss, cuttings had been grafted at the State Research Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries in Gülzow and were later planted in the University of Rostock botanical garden to preserve the tree's genetic material.
Local roads connect Stubbendorf to Tessin and the surrounding villages. BundesstraÃÂe 110 passes through Tessin, and Tessin railway station lies on the RB 11 regional line linking Wismar, Rostock, and Tessin.