Altenau () is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is situated in the middle of the Harz mountains, between Clausthal-Zellerfeld and the Brocken. It was part of the former Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") Oberharz. Geography The place is centrally located in the Upper Harz. Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the west is about ten kilometers, Goslar in the north about 15 km and Osterode am Harz in the southwest about 25 km away. To the east of the mountain town, twelve kilometers away, is the summit of the Brocken, which can be seen from many places in Altenau. The Oker flows through Altenau from south to north . Other streams flow into the Oker in the urban area and give Altenau a townscape with numerous valleys and hilltops. The area is heavily forested. Districts The Torfhaus settlement about ten kilometers away belongs to Altenau . This is at the highest point of the B 4 at about 800 m above sea level and consists mainly of tourist businesse. Torfhaus is located in the Harz National Park. Dammhaus It was built together with the Sperberhaier dam in the years 1732–1734, which closed a gap in the Upper Harz water shelf and bridged a shallow valley basin at a height of up to 16 m. Most of the original house has been preserved. The dam house was originally built for the miners who used it as a changing room and prayer house. Later it was used as an official residence for the trench keeper. In the further course the dam house, also known under the names "The foal house on the Sperberhaier" and "Sperberhaier Zechenhaus", served to supply forest workers and hikers. Bastesiedlung The Bastesiedlung is a former lumberjack settlement between Bad Harzburg and Torfhaus in the Goslar district in the Harz region . It consists of about six residential buildings and had 18 residents in 2012. The Baste forest workers' settlement is located north of the Torfhaus district on Bundesstraße 4 and comprises six timber-framed half-timbered houses that were built between 1949 and 1950. The buildings are under monument protection. Gemkenthal Gemkenthal It is located on the B 498 directly at the Okertalsperre . The center of Altenau is about four kilometers south, while the Goslar district of Oker (Goslar) is ten kilometers north.