Visselulles Have Memorial Pocket Park

A quiet garden with a remarkable backstory

Visselulles Have is a modest strip of green on Søndergade that carries an outsized story. The park is named for Anne Louise Caecilie Rosette Clausen, known to everyone as Visselulle, a woman born in 1878 who became famed as Sønderborg’s only female dockworker. At around 190 centimetres tall and working among men on the harbour, she embodied the grit of this once hard‑working neighbourhood. The garden’s current layout and name date from 2018, when the space was redesigned as a tribute to both Visselulle herself and the labouring history of Søndergade. Simple planting, low walls and open sightlines keep the focus on memory rather than monumentality, making it feel more like a shared backyard than a formal park.

Traces of a working-class street

Søndergade was long associated with fishermen, harbour workers and later employees from the nearby margarine factory that operated for a century from 1888. Small houses and modest tenements once overflowed with families tied to the water and the wharves. Visselulles Have sits right in this former workers’ quarter, and its nameplate and story panels help visitors connect the tranquil present with that industrious past. Nearby, you can still sense the scale of the old industry in the alignment of buildings and the narrow cross‑streets that drop toward the harbour. The park acts as a gentle reminder that behind today’s residential facades lay generations of tough physical labour that helped shape modern Sønderborg.

Remembering conflict and reconstruction

One of the subtle pleasures of sitting on a bench in Visselulles Have is the view toward carefully restored townhouses that line the street. Several were rebuilt after the bombardment of Sønderborg in 1864, when the city found itself on the frontline of conflict between Danish and Prussian forces. Their neat facades and orderly windows speak of resilience and slow reconstruction in the decades that followed. The park therefore sits at a crossroads of stories: the memory of war and rebuilding, the everyday life of workers and factory hands, and the singular tale of one woman whose strength became legend. It is both a green breathing space and an open‑air reminder of how much change a small street can witness over 150 years.

A pocket park for a short contemplative pause

Today, Visselulles Have functions as a neighbourhood pocket park, a place to rest for a few minutes between shops, the harbour and nearby cultural sights. Low flower beds, shrubs and seasonal planting soften the brick and plaster surroundings, while simple benches invite you to sit with a coffee or sandwich. The mood is unhurried; the scale encourages quiet conversation rather than play. Because of its size, this is not a destination for elaborate picnics or long walks, but it is ideal for a short breather or a contemplative stop on a stroll through the old town. In fine weather, dappled light falls through young trees onto the paving, while on overcast days the intimate enclosure makes it feel sheltered from wind sweeping in off the water.

Visselulle’s legacy around the harbour

Visselulle’s name appears not only in this little garden but also on a harbour crane christened in her honour in the 1970s and on a wine bar further along Sønderborg’s waterfront. This scattering of references underlines how firmly she has lodged in the city’s imagination. The park on Søndergade is the most low‑key of these tributes, yet also the most personal, quietly inserting her memory into the everyday routines of residents. Stopping here for a few moments connects you to that legacy. You can imagine Visselulle walking between the harbour and her home, towering over her colleagues, while the surrounding buildings chart the broader story of a town shaped by conflict, industry and, ultimately, calm renewal.