Anyone who has mastered Sprendlingen's sporting ascent on the high-altitude hiking trail will see an extraordinary tower on the hill between Ober-Hilbersheim and Sprendlingen - the Napoleonsturm. The Napoleon's Tower with its signal arms is modelled on a historical telegraph pole, with which the first short messages were sent over a distance of 12 kilometres in Napoleonic times. So to say the first SMS in history. The signal arms correspond to the "Chappe system", which was developed by the Chappe brothers in France at the time of the French Revolution. The telegraph line was formed by a series of signal towers that were within sight of each other. With the help of the swivelling signal arms, people displayed signs that could be seen with binoculars from the nearest tower. Thus, messages were transmitted faster than with mounted messengers. For the messages Claude Chappe (1763-1805) developed a simple method to represent all letters of the alphabet and special characters. Even the sending of encrypted messages became possible. The Sprendlingen Napoleon Storm was inaugurated in 2014 and is a popular destination for excursions in the Rhine-Hessian Tuscany. One of the region's typical wine tables is located on site, where groups can rest and enjoy the beautiful view. Many a winegrower also uses the location for his wine tasting. The freely accessible tower offers spectacular 360° views over the Rhine-Hessian hilly countryside as far as Bad Kreuznach, Donnersberg, Soonwald and Hunsrück as well as the Rheingau and the Mainz Basin.
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