Image Copyright: Verlag Temmen

In Kayhude. The river Alster is here still more like a beck than a river, meandering cosily through the landscape. A little bit of fantasy is needed to imagine shipping traffic here in earlier times. Segeberger gypsum (from the Kalkberg), bricks from the brick manufacture in Nahe, peat and wood was loaded in the storage yard Kayhude and then transported on boats the so-called 'Alsterböcken' – to Hamburg. Boats could be repaired at a small shipyard.
When the roads improved considerably the Alster freight traffic Kayhude–Hamburg came bit by bit to a standstill. Oldekop writes in his topography in a report about Kayhude in the year 1908:
'The actual shipping on the river Alster rests, but the river is navigable, small boats sail occasionally and a revision by a commission takes place annually. Hamburg is obligated to maintain the river and locks.'
The Kayhude population pays respect to its shipping past. Just like on the community coat-of-arms, the road sign at the entrance of the village also depicts a (stylised) barge loaded with peat, which is on its way on the sky blue Alster.