Sonnschied

Sonnschied
Coat of arms
Sonnschied
Location of Sonnschied within Birkenfeld district
Coordinates: 49°49′16″N 07°23′23″E / 49.82111°N 7.38972°E / 49.82111; 7.38972Coordinates: 49°49′16″N 07°23′23″E / 49.82111°N 7.38972°E / 49.82111; 7.38972
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Birkenfeld
Municipal assoc.	Herrstein
Government
• Mayor	Horst Elz
Area
• Total	3.85 km2 (1.49 sq mi)
Elevation	400 m (1,300 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	121
• Density	31/km2 (81/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55758
Dialling codes	06785
Vehicle registration	BIR
Website	www.sonnschied.de

Sonnschied is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.

The municipality lies in the southern Hunsrück at the edge of the Hahnenbach valley. From the village, there is an outstanding view of the Lützelsoon (a small, wooded, hill range).

Sonnschied borders in the north on the municipality of Bundenbach, in the northeast on the municipality of Bruschied, in the east on the municipality of Hennweiler, in the southeast on the municipality of Hahnenbach, in the south on the municipality of Griebelschied and in the west on the municipality of Wickenrodt. Sonnschied also meets the municipality of Niederhosenbach at a single point in the southwest.

Also belonging to Sonnschied is the outlying homestead of Birkenmühle.

In 1336, Sonnschied had its first documentary mention. In the early 16th century, the village belonged to the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves and together with the neighbouring village of Wickenrodt formed a court region (Gericht). In 1515, Sonnschied was split from Wickenrodt by the second Waldgravial-Rhinegravial partition treaty. In the early 18th century, Sonnschied was held by the Counts of Sahn-Kyrburg, who were an offshoot of the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves.

In the 1727 contribution and taxation register, the number of names listed implies that there were only seven houses or households in the village then. These inhabitants, though, were the ones who built the Evangelical chapel in 1727-1729, which even today is still parochially bound to the parish of Wickenrodt.