Travel Tips

The Rhön has always been a border land. The negative consequence is that invaders have always been here. Here's a few: 458 the Huns, 923 and 928 the Hungarians, 1080 Heinrich IV from Prussia, 1361 the Graf from Fulda, 1525 Farmer's revolt, 1618-1648 Thirty Years War, 1634 Croatians, 1674 French war with Prussia, 1756 Seven Year War, 1793 Coalition War(never heard of it), 1805-1819 Napoleonic wars; first the French then the Russian army chasing Napoleon home, 1866 Bavarian Prussian war, 1945 America with Soviet Union occupiing Thüringer Rhön in 1946, 1952-1991Partition of Germany. The easiest place to see this is along the highway from Bad Neustadt to Fladungen thru Mellrichstadt. All of the towns along the route have complete or partial remains of town defenses. But get out of the car, and get on the hiking trails, and there are many ruins to explore.

The Henneberg is located on a hill towering above the village of the same name. The first mention of the castle is the year 1037, it's thought that the castle existed before that. The Graf von Henneberg ruled most of the Rhön from this castle, until the line of Henneberg passed away. The castle was destroyed in 1525 during the Farmer's Revolt. Restoration began on the ruins in the late 1800's. The area was off limits during the partition of Germany from 1952-1989, because of the close proximity of the border(the border crossing Eussenhausen is visible from the ruins).

The ruins of Botenlaube castle dominate the skyline of Bad Kissingen. It's thought that the right to build a castle here was given to Graf von Botenlaube from the bishops of Würzburg in 1151. The castle was taken over by the Thüngenschen knights in 1399, and was destroyed in 1525 during the Farmer's Revolt. The ruins now provide a panoramic view of the city of Bad Kissingen and the Rhön.

The Osterburg is one of the Rhöns older castles. It's unknown when the castle was built. It was built to defend the frontier town of Bischofsheim from the bishops of Fulda. Two or three knights lived here with their familes. The caslte was destroyed in 1270 when Fulda's army plundered Bischofsheim. The castle lay forgotten in the forest until it was rediscovered in 1897 during logging work.

The Ebersburg in Hessen is considered by some to be the most picturesque ruin in the Rhön. The castle was the home of the line of Ebersburg. In 1271, the Fulda army destroyed the castle. In 1396, the castle was rebuilt, but not used. In 1664, the castle was made habitable again, but nobody moved in, and it fell apart again. In the late 1800's preservation work began to stabilize the ruins. The line of Ebersburg died out in 1906.

The Mauerschedel is a ruin that just looks haunted. The ruin is the base of a church tower that was surrounded by fortifications and storage rooms. This is all that's left of a town called Bischof. The town of Bischof was rather large, it was said that the town had 300 bakers! It's also said that this was the first Christian church in the area. The town was already called a "ruin" in church papers from 1383. Why the town was abandoned, nobody knows for sure, but the date corresponds with a time when the Rhön was suffering from the Black Plague and famine. In nearby Ostheim v.d. Rhön is a church fortress that is still completely intact.

There's not much left of the town of Ellenbach. Liek the Mauerschedel, only the remains of the church tower are to be seen. The town was mentioned in a document from 1244, meaning the town had already existed by this time. Ellenbach was a flourishing village in 1521, and in 1559 it was reported that the town was a ruin. Nobody has figured out why it dissapeared during a time that the Rhön was actually enjoying a period of population and economic growth. A local legend says the town was destroyed by the Swedish army and the only surviving woman fled to Eußenhausen, where she gave the valley as a gift to the farmers there. Today, the ruins consist of the church tower ruins and the meter thick walls of the church.

The village of Schmerbach has had a turbulent history. Originally a town in the Henenberg empire, the town was dead by the year 1562. It was rebuilt, destroyed in 1631, and again in 1636. The town was rebuilt and lived in relative peace until 1945, when it was occupied by the Soviet army. The town was used as a collective farm until 1974, when the East German government declared "the town too close to the border to be safe." The residents were moved out overnight, and the buildings levelled. All that remains today is the transformer house and parts of the cemetary.

These are but some of the ruins hiding in the Rhön. I'm working on getting every one on this page!