Romkerhall (also frequently called Romkerhalle) is a popular tourist destination on the River Oker in the Harz Mountains of Germany. There is a public car park here as well as a hotel and restaurant opposite the Romkerhall Waterfall. Romkerhall lies within the unincorporated area of Harz in the Lower Saxon county of Goslar in the Harz Mountains. The hotel and waterfall form a small tourist attraction which is marketed as the "Kingdom of Romkerhall - the smallest kingdom in the world!" (German: "Königreich Romkerhall − das kleinste Königreich der Welt!") Location Romkerhalle lies in the Upper Harz within the Harz Nature Park, around 5 kilometres south of the village of Oker in the borough of Goslar and about 1.5 kilometres (both distances as the crow flies) northeast of the Oker Reservoir on the B 498 federal road which runs parallel to the River Oker, here at a height of . About 200 metres to the south is the Romkerhalle Hydropower Station, in which electricity is generated from the waters of the reservoir. The inn belongs to the town of Goslar and the electricity station to the municipality of Schulenberg im Oberharz to the south of Goslar in the collective municipality of Oberharz. Between the power station and Romkerhalle the Große Romke and Kleine Romke streams approach from the east and discharge into the Oker. History In order to promote and facilitate traffic, the expansion of the road network in the area began in the early 19th century. In 1817, according to a plan by treasury secretary (Kammerssekretrie) von Eschwege, the first road was built in the Oker valley, running along the Ziegenrücken ridge past the Studentenklippe crags and Kästenecke. The extraction of timber was now made easier and timber hauliers could easily reach the Upper Harz. This narrow and romantic road still exists on the eastern side of the valley on its lower slopes and is walkable. It descends to Romkerhalle, where once a large, arched stone bridge crossed the Oker. Under the direction of the chief mining engineer (Oberbergmeister), Ahrend, a new, "comfortable road" was driven through the Oker valley to the "birch valleys" (Birkentäler). This was built from 1856 to 1861 with great difficulty, requiring the blasting of large quantities of rock down to the river banks and costing a total of 28,945 thalers. In 1865, under the direction of the chief smelting engineer, timber was rafted for