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Homburg and its environ?
Fr.Kofl9i*.corap 1867.

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to

HOHBIRG AND ITS ENVIRONS,

Chiefly after the German of G, Schiidt
arranged by

FR. KOFLER,

German master at Hom bur K.

3^^^^

P u 1> I i s U e d by F r. F r a ui» Ii « I se.
1867,

I.
The Tawnus-reglon.

Features and natural bistory of tbe country.
The tract of land situated between the Taunus,
the Rhine, the Main and the foot of the Vogels-
berg-chain is one of the most beautiful and most
favoured of Germany. Without taking into account
the official landmarks it may be divided into three
different districts. To the West lies the Rhine-
district (Rheingau), to the East tbe Wetterau, and
between the two, the Taunus-country proper.
It will perhaps be best to give a general de
lineation of the whole Taunus-region before com
mencing the detailed description of the town of
Homburg and particular points of the country.
As regards the minerals of the country, it
is found that the ground from the foot of the
mountains down to the plain of the Main is com
posed as follows. The lowest stratum which co
mes to the surface is the red and gray sand-stone. 1

— 2 —
It peeps out al Vilbel, a few miles from Homburg,
Vain attempts have been made to bore for coal
here. Immediately superfused on this sand-stone
is peat, and layers of clay and sand which en
close peat. The peat found in the neighbourhood
of Homburg, North of Gonzenheim, and that, found
between Bommersheim and Kahlbach, cannot be
used as fuel. To this geological period also be
longs the chalk containing muscles and shells.
It is found near Nauheim, Grosskarben, Vilbel and
Kronthal. Above this come layers of gravel and
pebbles which are met with at the gas-manufactory,
between Homburg and Gonzenheim, and finally
comes a layer of loam, which covers the whole
country. The strip of land, below the mineral-waters
down to Gonzenheim, seems to consist of basalt.
Several quarries were opened on the sides of the
hills stretching in a North Easterly direction, but,
as the stone, owing to its having become rotten
through moisture, was not sufCcieatly valuable to
allow them to be worked with profit, they were
soon deserted. Near Usingen, Friedberg, Kahlbach,
Eschersheim and at other places rich quarries of
basalt are profitably worked.
In our neighbourhood the basalt scarcely rises
above the plain and is thought to consist of boul
ders of the basalt which forms the higher ridges
of the Vogelsberg.

Nearer the foot of the mountains we meet
with white, green, violet and coloured slate — the
sericit-slate — peculiar to the Taunus. The castles
of Konigstein, Falkenstein and Cronberg are built
on rocks of this stone. The castle of Homburg
also rests on gray slate with green spots. In borings
for wells at the East or South side of the town
layers of this or a similar stone have always been
met with. Very fine specimens of the most varied
and the prettiest colours are found in a quarry near
Kirdorf, Isolated in this region of slate appears
the quarz of the Rabenstein (between Homburg
and Kirdorf) which ofl'ers to the geologist the
most remarkable mixture of field-spath and iron-
mica. — On this side of the mountains and in the
neighbourhood of Homburg traces of former mining
are often found. The most remarkable is the mine,
called „Goldgrube", situated in a mass of slate
richly intermixed with quarz, at the lower part
of the Hangelstein. But none of these attempts,
the authors of which have never been a.scertained,
seem to have produced any adequate results.
The main-ridge of the mountains consists of
quarz, for the most part extremely firm and massive,
hut hare and there granulousj being intermixed
with sand, and consequently less firm. It forms
the Brunhildsteih, Hangelstein, Marmorstein, Bim-
stein and other solid masses of rock. These rocks
are a good deal cleft and split. Single points and

_ 4 —
cliffs still rise in their original places, the frag
ments of others lie about in the ravines of the
mountains in blocks of various size.
On the N. W. side of the chain of mountains
we meet with grauwack-slate, which is for the
most part gray, brown and gray-blue slate and
sand-stone-slate. The castles of Reiffenberg and
Kransberg are built upon such rocks. In this re
gion, viz: between Kransberg, Pfaffenwiesbach and
Altweilnau are layers of lead and silver ore. Iron
is found in smaller quantities everywhere in the
mountains, in rich layers chiefly in the valley ot
the river Lahn. (80 pounds of pure iron are ge
nerally contained in 100 pounds of ore). The near
est mines are: Lead and silver: at Alt Weil and in
the Hausberg near Butzbach; iron: in the mine
Friedrichstein, near Weilburg.
Manganese is found, although in small quan
tities at the „preussische Schanze", near the Saal-
burg (3 Engl, miles dist, from Homburg).
With the quarz also appear rock-crystalls, chief
ly near Usingen; amethysts, near the Goldgrobe
and the Feldberg; corneleans and jaspers near the
Herzberg and Bleibeskopf. — Attempts in mining
will propably never be made again unless the pre
sent laws regulating it, which give but slight
facilities to those engaged in this pursuit, are
modified. The waters in the higher raountain-vallies

— 5 —
are clear rivulets, which unite towards the plain
in broad brooks. The water-sheds are not always
formed by the edge of the mountains. On the N.
W. side, the Ems and the Weil take their source
in the neighbourhood of the Main and flow into
the river Lahn. Only sraall brooks descend from
the S. E. side, all of which flow into the Nidda,
a small river that descends from the Vogelsberg
to the Main, forming with the latter for some di
stance the southern limit of the Taunus-country.
The great number of mineral-springs, which
nearly all agree in the dominant component of
muriate of soda, owe their origin, as many main
tain, to a salt-lake, which is said to have existed
in the valley formed by the Taunus, Vogelsberg,
Odenwald etc., along the bed of the Rhine, bet
ween Strassburg and Bingen. These mineral-
waters are chieflj'^ made use of for their medicinal
qualities and are either drunk at their source, or
conveyed into baths; the water of the springs at
Nauheim only is employed for extraction of salt.
In the district of the Taunus near the Main the
most important medical wells are at Homburg,
Nauheim, Kronthal, Soden, Schwalheim and Karben.
The flora of otir country may be called a
very rich one. Of cryptogamous plants alone 758
specimens have been found here, and amongst
them some eatable mushrooms and the Iceland-
moss, — Of herbs growing wild in the fields there

are found in our neighbourhood: 1) on slopes,
hedges, and along the roads: the daisy, the violet,
the cinquefoil, the liver-wart, the lions-tooth, the
ranunculus, the hypericum pulchrum, the artemisia,
the mint etc; 2) in the fields: the capsella bursa
pastoris, the common lark-spur, the centaury, the
caminomil. the cornflower, etc.; 3) in the meadows:
the cowslip, different kinds of veronica, the forget-
menot, the marsh-marigold, the orpine orchis, the
cuckoo-flower, the rampion, the trollius europaieus,
the campanula, the stock-gilly-flower, the euphra,sy,
the meadow-saffron etc; 4) near and in the woods:
the snowdrop, the figwort, the antumnal gentian,
the arnica montana, the chrysoplenium. the hazel-
wort, the tooth-wort, the vinea minor, the denta-
ria bulbifera, the strawberry, the truelove, the leo
pard's- bane, the martagon, the satyrion, the aron,
the neottia spiralis etc.
In the forests near Homburg, most kinds of
the trees which Germany produces, are to be found.
The commonest tree is the beech, which furnishes
us with the best fuel; the hornbeam is more rarely
found in the woods, but is very generally em
ployed for hedges. Next to the beech, the common
fir, the noble fir, the Scotch fir and the larch-tree,
the summer-oak, the scarlet-oak, the birch and the
ash are oftenest seen. The asp, the lime, the elm
and the false plane-tree, different kinds of alders
and willows grow separately. Of wild bushes we

— 7 —
may name the rose, the heath, the ivy, the sloe,
the haw-thorn, the spurge-laurel, the gorse, the
elder, the maple, the juniper, the hazel, the com
mon birdcherry-tree, the lote-tree, the dog-herry',
the service-tree, the bilberry, the raspberry, the
blaqk-berry etc. etc.
Agriculture and horticulture are the chief
support of the inhabitants of the Taunus-country,
The loamy clay, mixed with sand and chalk, that
covers the rotten slate, forms a soil well adapted
to the development of plants. This favourable mix
ture of the soil is found in the Taunus-region fre^
quently enough to make it a very fertile country.
In our immediate neighbourhood the soil is heavy
throughout. This and the influence of the climate
have the effect of making the flower-time and the
harvest from 8 days to a fortnight later than they are
even as near as Frankfurt. The same circumstan
ces act unfavourably on the Cultivation of some
kinds of corn. On the neighbouring N, W, side
of the chain of mountains the nature of the soil
and the climate throughout are still more unfavou
rable. On the contrary the Wetterau, part of which
belongs to the Taunuscountry, is called one of the
„granaries" of Germany. ^
The corn that is generally cultivated here is
winter-wheat, barley and oats. Of vegetables, cab
bage is chiefly planted. French beans, peas and
lentils gi-ow luxuriantly; potatoes also give very

_ 8 —
plentiful crops. Carrots, beetroots and turnips are
chiefly grown for the use of the kitchen, the lat
ter and mangle-wiirzel form the favoured food for
cattle. For the same purpose are cultivated the
vetch and the red clover, which is preferred here
to all other sorts of clover and gives a very rich
return. Oil-plants, hemp and flax are very seldom
seen near Homburg, but at no great distance from
us, in the plain of the Main, they are frequently
planted. The ornamental plants which most commonly
appear in gardens and pleasuregrounds are: ol
herbs: the forgetmenot, the mignonette, the heart's-
ease, the primrose, the campanula, the star- wort,
the lark-spur, the lychnis chalcedonica, the fox
glove, the lion's mouth, the vervain, the stock, the
double wall-flower, the hesperis matronalis, the
tulip,, the lily, the hyacinth, the narcissus, the Iri-
tillaria imperialis, the sunflower, the talia, the ge
ranium; of bushes: particularly a great variety of
roses, the lilac, the Guelder rose, the honey-suckle,
the laburnum, the laurel; of trees: the taxus, the
Italian poplar, the plane-tree, the acacia, the horse-
chesnut, the weeping willow etc. The orange only
bears the open air in summer.
The cultivation of fruit on the southern
side of the Taunus is as generally and as profi
tably pursued as in any part of Germany. There
are found here innumerable kinds of apples, pears

cherries, plums, greengages, apricots aud walnuts;
Spanish chesnuts are not rare at Homburg; but
they are cultivated in great numbers near Ober-
ursel and Cronberg, — The latter place is distin
guished by the cultivation of the finest fruit —
and fresh and dried fruit as well as young trees
o^t of the nursery-gardens of this place are sent
to great distances. The apples are chiefly used
for cider in our country.
The vine which in former times was cultiva
ted in the neighbourhood of Homburg has now
retreated to Neuenhain and Soden, in the direction
of the Rhine, in the direction of the Main, to Franc-
fort and Bergen; grapes, currents and gooseberries
however are still grown in abundance.
To the game fit for the chace — accor
ding to a hunting-law of the Landgrave of the
year 1841 — belong: Stags, (the royal stag and
the deer - — the latter only in parks), roes, wild
boars (these likewise only in parks), hares, foxes,
martens, badgers, common otters, grouse, black
cocks, heathcocks and hens, partridges, wood
cocks, snipes, wild ducks, wild geese and wild
pigeons. Besides these, wild cats, - field-fares, quails
and larks, stonehawks, buzzards, golhawks, kites,
ravens, crows, magpies, jaies, owls and herons
are frequently shot. The best known singing
birds of Germany people the country; nightingales
are rare and a fine of 5 or 10 fls, is imposed on

— 10 —
a person catching one of them. xTq the woods,
bUnd-worms, ringed snakes, in grte,at numbers,
and the poisonous adder are to be tw)und. The
rivers, brooks aud ponds mostly conta^^n: carp,
whitling, tench, pike, trout, perch, barbel, s»eickle-
back, gudgeon and craw-fish. \
Few cattle are bred in the Taunus-countryr.
The breeding of sheep and pigs scarcely deserves
mention. More attention is paid here and there to
the rearing of pigeons, hens, ducks and geese.
The culture of bees — though followed only as
an amusement, is thpught to be very luctrative.
The populationofthe Taunus-country is
very dense. Without reckoning the city of Franc-
fort it amounts to 5,000 persons to the geogr.-
square mile; the district of Homburg has even 8,000
to the square mile. As regards their origin they
are a mixture of Rhenish Franks and Hessians.
Jews and the French who colonized here in the
1 7th century have kept themselves tolerably distinct
from the rest of the inhabitants.
The beauties of the country, its lovely valleys
adorned with thousands of coloured flowers, its
fine mountains and rocky top^, its pleasant groves
of lofty trees, its fertile soil flowring over with
corn and fruit, its green meadows with their clo-
very grass, its hills bearing golden grapes, its
gushing rill* and murmuring waters, its cool foun
tains, its noble cities, towns and villages, its ruined

— 11 —
castles and its palaces have often been praised and
sung. And we will finish this chapter with the
words of a poet: „Hail! proud Taunus, with the
paradise lying on thy heart!"

A sketcb of the ancient history of the country.
We may presume with tolerable certitude that
the Celts were the first inhabitants of South and
Middle-Germany; the Helvetians are said to have
dwelt chiefly in the countries near the Main and
the Rhine. The Celts were succeeded by the
Germans who consisted of different tribes. About
70 years before Christ the Ubii probably inhabi
ted the country of the Main- and the Rhine-Tau-
nus, the Usipeti from the Main-Taunns up to
the river Lahn. These tribes were soon after this
time however driven from their place of abode by
their eastern neighbours the Catti who belonged
to the great national confederation of the Swevi.
.\mongst the ruins attributed to this ancient
period in the history of our country we may men
tion a part of the so called „Huhnengraber"
(fairy or giant mounts). They are burying places
and from the outside generally appear as hilly
elevations of the soil. They are frequently found
in our country lying in groups on the side of
sunny hills. The most important groups in the

12

neighbourhood of Homburg are in the Hardt and
at the Heidengraben, N, W, of Oberstedten, Amongst
tijese barrows are many of ante-Roman, either of
Celtic or German origin; others may only date
from the time of the Alemanni or the Franks,
The most remarkable monuments of that pri
mitive time however are the so called ,Jling-
walle" (circular ramparts). They are ramparts
made of blocks of rock, stones and masses of
earth and are placed usually in a circle around
the tops of mountains. W^ays, called: „Renriwege"
seem to have formed a communication between
them. The most important in our country are;
the ramparts on the Altking, the: „Alten Hofe" on
the Dalwigsberg, the ramparts around the Gold-
grubenberg, the Bleibeskopf and the Gickelsburg,
which \yill be described at the proper place in
this work. One or two of them may perhaps have
been built even by the Celts, It is probable how
ever from their nature and situation that some
of these entrenchments which previously existed
may have been turned to account and fortified by
the Germans, who themselves were the builders
of the greater part of them, and of the lines of
communication which then existed between them.
This probably happened particularly at the time
when the Romans under Julius Casar (53 and 50
B. C) came twice over the Rhine with a power
ful army, (Ancient legends assert that the whole

13

mount of the Altking was piled up by the sol
diers of Ariovistus, when flying before Caesar. Ac
cording to all probability these circular ramparts
are the fortified gathering-places (oppida) into which
the Swevi had first retreated, and into which later,
by command of Csesar his allies the Ubii^brought
all their movable property.
These conflicts were the commencement of
the bloody wars between the Romans and the
Germans, which raged for nearly 500 years. Many
Roman armies under Caesar, Drusus, Nero, Ger-
manicus etc. invaded Germany. The Catti retired
into the forests; the Romans only suceeding in
subduing one branch of them in our country: the
Mattiaci, The fortified trenches, called: „Pfahlgraben" and
the works continuing it, formed the extreme limit
of the territory held in durable possession by the
Romans on the right bank of the Rhine, Within
these limits lay the agri decumates (tithe-land)
wliich were divided into civil jurisdictions, perhaps
following former German divisions. Inscriptions
mention particularly a „Ci vitas Taunensium".
Capital of this was the Roman tovpn Novus vicus,
near Heddernheim (7 engl. miles di,?*,); it formed
the central point of our immediate neighbourhood,
from vvhich roads and fortifications extended in
every direction. The Taunus, and particularly its
passes, were protected by the previously named

14

„Pfahlgraben" and the fortified posts along its line,
which were in their turn supported by more di
stant defences. It is evident that here the Romans
had made their principal miUtary position; for these
mountains were covered with defensive w^orks
thrown in advance of the fortress Maguntiacum
(Mayenco), the strongest buUwark of the Romans
against the Germans on the Upper-Rhine, and still
more, because it was opposed to the Catti, the
most terrible of all the German tribes. Besides
the „Novus vicus", the most important Roman
towns in our neighbourhood were: the Saal-
burg and the Kapersburg on the Taunus, the fort
and the town of Friedberg, and a place between
Vilbel and Friedberg.
A. D. 212 the Alemanni a powerful confede
ration of tribes, made their appearance. They
united almost all the inhabitants of the South
western part of Germany in a common alliance
against the Roman rule. Their armies, although
they were always eventually repulsed, frequently
succeeded in breaking through the lines, and car
rying death and destruction into their establish
ments. Three distinct times they stormed Magun
tiacum, burned it to the ground and when repelled,
took refuge in the fortified camp of the Allkonig.
After the year 282 the whole country on the right
(bank) of the Rhine was brought into subjection
by the Alemanni, although some fortifications were

— 15 —
still in the possession of the Romans and their
armies moreover continued occasionally to cross
the Rhine. In the middle of the 4th century the
B u ein ob anti, also an Alemannic tribe, are mentio
ned as living in our neighbourhood. The Romans
were compelled to conclude a peace with Macrian
the king of the Bucinobanti and from this time
no Roman army reentered the Taunus-country. —
Ruins of ramparts, now called „Landwehren",
seem to be remains of these last contests between
the Romans and the Germans. Their lines gene
rally descend from the mountains and form a con
nected chain of roads and defences.
After the battle of Tolbiacum (496) in which
the Alemanni were defeated by Chlodwig, king
of the Franks, the former retired from our neigh
bourhood and the Franks, who were themselves
also a confederation of German tribes, took pos
session of our country. After the death of Chlod
wig (511) the great kingdom of the Franks was
divided into two parts: the western: Neustria,
and the eastern: Austria. The Main and Taunus
region belonged to the latter. It formed at this
period three districts, which evidently had their
origin in three Roman territorial divisions, which
themselves had been based on Germanic distribu
tions of territory. At the head of these districts
were „Gaugrafen" (counts of the districts). The
Taunus-country proper answered to what was

— 16 —
then called the Nidda-district. There is no doubt
that the whole Nidda-district in which there had
been so many Roman settlements was early cul
tivated. We know positively, that some of our
villages are built on the foundations of Roman
colonies, and many others, even where this is not
known to be the case, have very probably a like
origin. By degrees the old division of districts was
broken up. Single families and corporations en
deavoured by purchase or exchange, by fraud or
force, to acquire for themselves as much land and
as many subjects as they could. The lords of
Nfirings, Miinzenberg, Falkenstein, Eppstein, Hanau
and the bishops of Mayence acquired the most
considerable possessions in our neighbourhood and
usurped with the possession of the land, the civil
jurisdiction also.
As soon as the materials for history be
come sufliciently numerous to allow us to un
derstand clearly the state of the countrj^ about
this period, we find four separate judicial districts
existing, whose villages were for the most part
in the hereditary or feudal possession of the same
lords who held the civil jurisdiction, — One of
these divisions of jurisdiction was the county of
the „Bornheimer Berg", the second formed the
bailiwic of Heussel, to which the castle of Epp
stein belonged; the third belonged to the castle

— 17 —
of Konigstein; and the fourth constituted very
nearly that territory, which now forms the bailiwick
of Homburg. This brings us to that point in the ancient
history of the country where we may commence
the history of the town of Homburg and of other
places in particular.

II.
The town of Homburg.

Ancient conditions and fortunes of the town.
r
As the ancient history of the town of Hom
burg is closely connected with that of the fort
commanding it, the present Landgrave's castle, the
town has received its name from the fort. Both
are called in the oldest documents, Hoenberg,
Hoinberg, Hohenberg, Hoeraberg or Honberg.
and these names are probably derived from the
elevated situation of the castle, unless they have
indeed some connexion with the significant term
of Heun- and Hiinburg (Huns- or Giant's-castle).
The arms of the town of Homburg — two
pickaxes, white on a blue field — were, according
to traditon, assumed, because on the founJation
of the town it was necessary lo ciejir a l.irge trac
from wood. The old motto of t!i:: ioni) has a si
railar meaning and runs thus;

19

„Sic excelsa duos perfert Homberga ligones
Qui frustrum cupit, is plantet ob ista manu."
This motto has been translated into old German
in two ways. In Wessel's Book of Hessian He
raldry (pubd. 1623):
„The town of Homburg bears two pickaxes
in her arms; he who would reap from her soil,
the same must also sow it."
And ir Wessels description of the principali
ties of Hesse and Hersfeld thus:
„The town of Homburg bears on its shield two
strong pickaxes.
He who wants corn from the laiid mui^t also
sow it.
Man obtains nothing without trouble, and no dove
flies
Into the mouth of the idle; every body may be
lieve this."
Homburg, as has been already stated lay in
what was formerly called the Nidda-district and
was the seat of a principal law-court. The Nid
da-district Was the portion of the present Land-
graviate of Hesse Homburg, lying on the right
bank of the Rhine, The judges of the district
were according to authentic documents the actual
proprietors of the district at the time. Only Kir
dorf which also belonged to the district was a
fief of the Electorate of Mayence. The „Oberhof"'

20

(superior court), formerly a royal court, had its
sittings at Francfort, with which city Homburg,
as well as all the towns of any size in the vici
nity, were in some degree dependent for protection
and under obligation to render certain services.
It is especially to be remarked that the office
of a Waldbote (chief intendant of the royal forests)
over the Hohe Mark and Seulberger Mark, (com
munal woods of the Taunus, which will be more
particularly mentioned in the proper place), was
from the earliest times attached to the possession
of Homburg. In a document of 1192, in which
Homburg itself is mentioned for the first time, the
office of a Waldbote is mentioned in connection
with it. The oldest decision concerning the Hohe
Mark (of 1401) expressly says: ,.jLet the superior
Lord and Waldbote be a Lord of Eppstein, or who
ever may be at the time the rightful possessor of
Hohenberg," And according to the oldest decision
of the Seulberger Mark (of 1493): „He is the su
perior Lord aud Waldbote of the Mark who pos
sesses Homburg in honour and right," — This
connection is a proof of the high antiquity and
early importahce of the fortress — perhaps also
of the town; a proof the more remarkable, since
Oberursel and Seulberg, the two places of the
neighbourhood especiallj"^ connected with these Marks,
were of no small importance and mentioned in the
records of the earliest ages — long before Homburg.

— 21 —
A statement, asserted to rest only on tradi
tion, speaks of the foundation of Homburg as fol
lows: „A great grandson of that Eppo, who built
the castle of Eppstein, freed the beautiful Bertha
from the giant and married her — named Benno,
driven from home through the enmity of his bro
ther, built himself a new fortress here on the
ruins of a Roman castle with the help of the
neighbouring shepherds; around this by degrees
rose huts and houses."
It is said that the white tower which raises
its stately height in the middle of the Landgrave's
castle rests on Roman foundations.
However although the situation of the moun
tain castle appears well fitted for a fortified posi
tion — facing the mountain — and although se
veral forts and castles of the middle ages in our
neighbourhood are built on the site of Roman
camps, yet this part of the tradition requires fiir-
ther confirmation; for, as far as we know, no
trace of Roman building has ever been found at
Homburg, On the contrary the tradition may be perfectly
true that an Eppsteiner built the old castle, for
the Lords of Eppstein were undoubtedly — as
far as can be known — the first possessors of
Homburg. — A part of this old possession"came,
probably by inheritance, to the Lords of Hanau,
This appears from a record of 1192, the first in

— 22 —
which Homburg was named as we have already
mentioned above. In this Gottfried I of Eppstein
states that he has purchased from his kinsmann
Heinrich of Hanau for 600 marks his share of the
castle of Hoenberg and the castle of Eppstein, with
their appurtenances and the office of a Waldbote,
in order to reunite the former possessions of his
ancestors. *)
The Eppsteiners were from that time again
in the sole allodial possession of Homburg. — The
sons of Gottfried H of Eppstein, Gerhard I and
Gottfried IH divided amongst themselves the castle
of Homburg and its appurtenances. Whilst how
ever the half which had fallen to the lot ot
Gottfried HI descended in uninterrupted succession
to his grandson Gottfried V, the second half which

*) „6odefridus de Eppenstein tenore presentium recognos-
cimus, quod ex siiigulari bona progenitoruni restaurandi
cura cum H, de Hageuowe consauguineo nostro hunc
in modum conTeninms. Vendit ille nobis, conseutienti-
bus et reuunciantibus beredibus suis in perpetuum, om-
nem justitiam et utilitatem, quam juxtu literas super
Comecla et domloio parentele nostre confectas possedit
in castris Eppenstein et Hoenberg, cum jure sil-
vatico, quod Waldbod Ambet dicitur, et omnibus
alliis attlnenciis, pro sexcentis marcis deuarioruni Colo-
niencium intra tres menses recipiendis. Si vero intra
hoc temporis intervallum memoratp marce non fuerint
exsolute, tunc dicte partes castrorum iu manus prefati
nostri cousauguinei sine ullo impediuienlo redibunt."

23

fell to the lot of Gerhard I had on the con
trary a far more varied destiny. For the sons of
Gerhard I, Werner and Gerhard H divided again
ainong themselves the half which they inherited
from their father. The fourth part, which thus
fell to Gerhard H, descended after his death, which
took place before 1260, to his eldest daughter
Elizabeth, married to count Eberhard I of Katzen
ellenbogen, whilst the fourth part, which fell to
Werner, was conveyed by him, when he was
archbishop of Mayence, as a donation to that see.
This donation however was never completed —
probably because the above mentioned daughter of
Gerhard II appealed against this alienation of the
old inheritance of their family. Werner died in the
same year, and the fourth part of Homburg which
had fallen to his lot, came to his brother's daughter,
or rather to her husband, count Eberhard I of
Katzenellenbogen, who now had the half of
the whole possession in his hands. Eberhard con
veyed in the year 1294 the suzerainty of this half
and the half of the castle of Steinheim, which had
come to him in the same way, to king Edward I
of England, for five hundred pounds sterling. Of
this feudal connection however no trace appears
after this time. It would seem that the duration
of the conveyance was determined through the
treaty made by the German emperor Adolph von
Nassau with that king. Adolph died in 1298 and

— 24 —
thereby was extinguished that feudal tenure which
had more importance in the history of the empire.
Through a later partition a half part of the share
of the count of Katzenelnbogen, that is to say a
fourth part of the whole, came to count Eber
hard in, the second fourth part to count John
H. The first pledged his share to Gottfried V of
Eppstein (in 1327), without again redeeming it,
and John H sold his part (in 1330) to the same,
who thus came into full possession of the castle
and its appurtenances. The possession however
did not remain uncontested. After the death of
Eberhard HI and his wife, their daughter EU
zabeth, married to Seneschal Eberhard of Erbach,
made an appeal against this last cession, and in
1360 brought an action for recovery and obtained
also during the long legal proceedings several fa
vourable verdicts. Even in 1411 the Erbachers
for the same cause threatened the Eppsteiners with
open feud; although nothing resulted either from
their threats or their opposition.
In the year 1334 Gottfried V conveyed the
feudal right of lord-ship over Homburg to the
Elector Palatine Rudolph for a hundred pounds
weight of hellers. (1 hlr. = 'A part of 1 kr.)
The brothers Gottfried VIE and Eberhard H,
the founders of the Eppstein-Miinzenberg and
Eppstein-Konigstein lines, again subdivided the
possessions of their house. The legal division was

— 25 —
made in 1433; Homburg and its appurtenances
then fell to Eppstein-Miinzenberg.
In the year 1486 Gottfried X of Eppstein,
Lord of Miinzenberg, being deeply indebted, and
besides childless, sold the castle, the small town,
and the villages belonging to it, as well as the
jurisdiction and the lordship of the Marks, for
19,000 fls. to the count Philip I of Hanau-
Miinzenberg, who also received in 1487 the
feudal investiture from the count palatine. In the
deed of investiture by the palatine: Castle and
town of Homburg, Seulberg, Gonzenheim, Nieder-
stedten, Oberstedten, Domholzhausen and Koppem
were named. But when in the year 1504 the
Bavarian war broke out, in which the possessor
of Homburg count Reinhard of Hanau took the
side -of the outlawed elector PhiUp, the castle and
town of Homburg were occupied by the troops
of Landgrave Wilhelm H of Hesse. An imperial
decree of 1504 assured the permanent possession
of this conquest to the Landgrave, and this de
cree was confirmed at the treaty of Constance in
the year 1507. — But it was only at the impe
rial diet of Worms in 1521 that the matter was
legally settled, and the baiUwick of Homburg was
ceded for 12,000 gold-florins by Hanau to Hesse.
The suzerainty of the palatine had been already
put an end to by the above mentioned imperial
decree.

_ 2(J —
After tho deoth of Landgvare Philip tlie Mag-
nniilitiouM In 1567 the whole country of Hess^e
WON divided amongst lii<< four sons; William, Louis,
Philip nnd (Jmir|2;o. Tho bailiwic1( Of Hombnrgi
with several other possessions however was be
queathed by the last will of Philip to the issue
of his morganatic marriage with Margarethe of the.
Saal, the counts of Diets.
The Ibmily of the counts of Dietz died out
in 1603. The last connt passed the 33 last years
of his lilb in captivity. As early as 1577 their
property was divided between' the house of Be-sse,
whereby Hoiuburg fell to the share of Landgrave
Philip of llessc-Khcinfels. and after his death
in^ 1583 to his brother George I of Hesse-
DarmvStadt His son aiui .successor Louis V made betweraa
1602 and ItiOo an agreemeDt with his brodiers,
wh^reliY Fnnlerick the youngest of tke sarvivii^
Sims of («e«»rg* I received, subject to certain con-
diiions. the bailiwiric of Hoiubtiri; as compensation
for liis \^«rly ap^najre of ^000 fs. trederick
ohIvmnhI »n Ihe sre%-ernment July '21th in 1622.4nd
ft$i Fi-^deridi. I fouatled ihe line of On Laa^rsves
«r lle!ii!>i«>HotHbHr^. Beiore wc follow any fiurtter the destinies of
B«MH«i|r w» will cast a glance over the c«nditioB
•f Ike link town diuuig the ipenad oerapied by
the ah»TC events.

— 27 —
The population in those times must have
been inconsiderable in number, they found their
chief subsistance in agriculture , combined with
cultivation of fruit, vines and in breeding cattle.
As the Lutheran doctrine had been introduced
in 1526 into the whole of Hesse, the inhabitants
of Homburg from this time must also have belonged
to this faith. However only in the year 1616 a
Lutheran clergyman is mentioned with certainty
as an inhabitant of the town. His name was Hein
rich Seulberger. — Jews also, probably in small
numbers , appear to have constantly resided in
Homburg. The emperoi*Louis IV in the year 1353
gave to Gottfried V of Eppstein a revocable per
mission „tp have ten resident jews in his valley
and the castle of Hohenberg and to make the custo
mary use of them".
Several families of knightly rank had their
Residence in Homburg, The „Brendels of Hoen
berg" are mentioned first in 1192 and their race
only became extinct in the 17th century; a certain
„Reizsel of Hohinberg, esquire", appears in a
record of 1371; The „Clems of Hoenberg" appear
in records in the 17th century.
The Brendels had from the different pos
sessors of Homburg amongst other things as a fief:
„The castle with all its appurtenaiices and the
house near the church, likewise the court appar-
taining thereto". But this church stood like the

— 28 —
present Lutheran church of the town on the North
eastern side of the castle, but separated from it.
A view of „Homburg in the year 1 608",
represents to us the castle on a hill that rises
steep to the N. W. with a few bushes at its foot,
the other part is bare. In the middle of the court
of the castle stands clearly forth the high white
tower. From W. to E. from this, stand the chief-
buildings of the castle; at the northern angle, rises
a second tower. A wall with battlements, begin
ning from the castle, surrounds the town, along
the whole of which at intervals appear several
towers overlooking the town. Separated from the
castle and a little lower down towards the town,
stands the above mentioned church with some ad
joining buildings. In the middle of the town, ri
sing high above the surrounding buildings, stands
the Rathhaus or townhouse with the Rathhaus-
tower that exists to this day. This town-house
which besides the rooms for the council contained
the stranger's rooms of the inn of the „Red Ox",
was only demolished in the year 1821. It stood
across the street named after it, Rathhausgasse,
which ran through the dark archway of the Rath
haus; the latter leaned against the Rathhaustower
which then contained the prison.
Besides this we know that before the Upper-
gate, and near the present Obergasse and Jewstreet
was the shooting-ground of the company of

— 29 —
sharp-shooters, said to have been founded as
early as the 14th century, and according to au
thentic records certainly as early as the 15th cen
tury, and which still exists at Homburg. At first
only consisting of archers, as the brotherhood of
St. Sebastian, but in the beginning of the 16th
century also including rifle-shooters, as the brother
hood of St. Anthony, it had, according to a list
drawn up in 1505, and still in existence, nume
rous princely and noble Lords and Ladies amongst
its members. The company enjoyed far and near
the highest reputation, not only on account ol
its ancient origin and the brilliant array of mem
bers, but also on account of their sup^erior excel
lence. Landgrave Philip, praising their approved
valour, convoked them in times of war for the de
fence of the castle, and in later times for the de
fence of the country.
As may be inferred from old documents, the
little towTtt before it came to Hesse had to suffer
a good deal by calamities of war through the
feuds in which the knights Brendel, the posses
sors of Homburg and inhabitants of the castle, were
engaged, and often requested assistance from the
magistrates of Francfort. •
With the annexation of the bailiwick of Hom
burg to the territorj'' of Hesse, the castle and town
lost a great part of the importance derived from
their independent position, but obtained a more

— 30 -
durable and assured existence. Still the fighting
disposition and the rapacity of the „noble high
waymen" was equal to braving even a Landgrave
of Hesse. Thus in the year 1515 John of Brei-
denstein, one of the knightly owners of Reiffen
berg, entered into the wood close to Homburg and
took without ceremony from the tov^Tismen thefr
cattle, which were feeding there. The burghers
indeed made all the resistance in their power, but
were repulsed with a loss of three slain.

History of Homburg as capital of the Landgraviate.
The town of Homburg became through the
above mentioned circumstances in 1622 the capital
of a principallity and the residence of a princely
house, A good deal was now done for its enlar
gement and embellishment.
The thirty years war, whose ravages ex
tended over our whole neighbourhood, was a se
vere visitation both for the town and district of
Homburg, In an old account it is related: „In
1634 and the following years the district of Hom
burg was dreadfully ruined by plague, dearth and
war." Homburg in the year 1634 alone w^as laid
under contribution several times both by the Impe
rial and Swedish troops. In 1635 the Imperial
general Bonninghausen, who had already the previous

31

year plundered the town, returned again and a
second time levied contributions in money and
provisions. A part of a petition of the burgho-
masters and the communities of the bailiwick of
Homburg runs thus. „When the above mentioned
troops of Bonninghausen had left, and the intole
rable contributions and exactions had somewhat
decreased, our fields lay waste and uncultivated,"
and we found ourselves in the greatest need of
the dear bread of life.... And if by especial
providence of God so much corn had not been
mercifully sent us up the Rhine by Mayence and
Francfort, we with our unfortunate wives and
children should have miserably wasted away, star
ved and perished — in which way, alas! some
hundreds have actually lost their life through hun
ger," — In 1640 the Imperial colonel Benzenau
with about 860 men consisting of cavalry an in
fantry under the command of the general, count
Gallas, took Homburg, occupied it &nd oppressed
the inhabitants not a little, ..antl the Schnapphah-
nen (robbers, in French: chensipan), sent by his
grace the elector of Mayence allowed themselves to
be employed iu vigorously assisting in the plunder
and destruction," The Swedish coloiiel Reinhold
von Rose Came ssext wilh a band of soldiers, com-
p()sed of Weimar's and French troti;'^ fom. the
Wetterau against HomBurg. According to old tra
dition these' troops, led and supported by the neigh-

— 32 —
bouring peasants had come unperceived into the
neighbourhood of the town by the way which is
still called „the Schwedenpfad" (Swedes path),
and now leads from the Adler-Hotel down to the
Kursaal grounds, but was at that time a deep hol
low-way concealed by bushes. During the night
of October 29th in 1640 they found their way into
the town and surprised the Imperial troops; they
cut down all who resisted, took most of the re
mainder prisoners , plundered the citizens and
retired with „fat booty" to Friedberg. The little
that was left after the refreat of the Swedes was
thoroughly pillaged by the troops under Benzenan's
command, which then reappeared. In the later
course of the war also the town suffered many
misfortunes. However she soon recovered from
these cruel calamities and perhaps even in conse
quence of the war, she considerably increased,
since the inhabitants of neighbouring villages, that
had been destroyed or were little protected, settled
themselves here; amongst these were most of the
inhabitants of the village of Niederstedten, which
before these events had been depopulated by diseases
and the calamities of war and had now been en
tirely destroyed.
Persecutions of witches were of very
frequent occurrence at Homburg in the beginning
of the 6th decennium of the 17th century; whole
families were sacrificed to this abominable super-

— 33 —
stition. The ,,Hexeiith!irm" (witches' towei-), the re
mains of which do not at present rise above the wall
on the S. W. side of the lower part of the
„guldene Treppe" (gold staircase) that leads from
the new to the old part of the town, still reminds
us by its name of its former sad destination.
Landgrave William Christopher, who had ac
quired from Hesse-Darmstadt the district Bingen-
heim (in the Wetterau) retired as Landgrave of
Bingenheim to this place afiter having ceded in
1669 the district of Homburg for the sum of 120,000
fls. to his brother George Christian. The latter
however (as early as 1671) was obliged to mort
gage his recently made acquisition to Hesse-
Darmstadt for the sum of 40,000 fls. The mort
gage was only redeemed in 1679 (?) by Land
grave Frederick I, surnamed Frederick of the sil
ver leg. Under the government of the last named Land
grave (from 1680 to 1708) the fortifications sur
rounding the old town were renewed and at the
same time the building of the new town was be
gun. The latter was named after the second wife
of the Landgrave „Lo uis en stadt," This part of
the town was chiefly peopled by French religious
fugitives (Huguenots) from Picardy, Champagne,
Bretagne, Dauphine, Languedoc, Burgundy etc.
They consisted of 150 faiuilies; their number how
ever considerably declined in consequence of their
3

— 34 —
second settlement at Friedrichsdorf and Domholz
hausen, The first known clergyman of this French
Calvinistic congregation was called Alexandre
Coullez. A picture of the state of Homburg at that
time is contained in the decrees concerning these
settlements. Amongst other things they mention:
saltworks, glassworks that produced all sorts
of the best and finest glass, paper-mills and ful
ling-mills. These were all works which owed
their existence or at least their prosperity to Land
grave Frederick II, It is said of the newly erec
ted Louisentown in a charter granted in the year
1698: „This Louisenstadt by reason of its frequen
ted thoroughfare is very conveniently situated
for establishing shops and other trades, as well as
for public houses; for which reason some years
ago a good many foreigners with their families
settled there, and brought so much property with
them, that they have huilt large and stately hou
ses, and have so well succeeded, in the manufac
tories they have established, that they are now not
able to produce as much as they can dispose of
and negociate in the neighbouring places and in
the two fsirs of Easter and Michaelmas, that are
annually held in Francfort. Besides this we have
also ordered for the encouragement and facilitation
of commerce and other professions a riding post
which twice a week goes to Francfort on the

— 35 —
Main and back, as well as a driving post that
also goes there twice a week, and by which people
may for a sinall price drive to Francfort in the
morning, do their business, come back to Homburg
and be here in the Louisenstadt with their families
in the evening.*' — Until the time of the Confe
deration of the Rhine, the new town remained in
so far separated li-om the old town that she had
her own burgomaster, and common council.
The disagreements, which from the time of
the separation of Homburg and Hesse-Darmstadt
had existed between the two princely houses, con
tinued during all this period and brought much
distress upon Homburg. In the month of Novem
ber 1699, Homburg .,was surprised" by 600 men
of Hesse-Darmstadt troops, and by these „many
exactions and oppressions were exercised."
Homburg was further enlarged during the first
half of the last century. In 1710 were built the
Dorotheenslrasse, and the Armengasse, by which the
former was to be joined with the Louisenstrasse,
The Homburg-Neustadt townsbook says in gene
ral: „From the year 1685 to 1730 there have been
built and erected: A French Calvinistic church, a
poor-house, several fountains, two tlarge chief-
sti-eets, five side-streets, three gates and 128 houses,
in which, besides families of quality and private
persons, there dwell at this time 165 citizens, 14
widows, 20 tradesmen on permission, and 5 Jews."-

— 36 —
— In a view of ,,the High-princely Residence
of Homburg" (in 1734), we meet for the first time
with the new town. The Calvinistic church and
the Siebenhaussergasse stand isolated. The castle
appears to be built around two courts , and the
garden of the castle for the greate? part is laid
out in vineyards. In the old town, the town-
house with its tower rises prominently; but be
sides this, there is nothing to be seen of the walis
of the town nor of its towers.
In 1745 Homburg had for some time a French,
and after this an Austrian garrison quartered on
it. Two years after, in 1747, the castle, town
and bailiwick were occupied by 600 men of Hesse-
Darmstadt troops and the inhabitants were sum
moned to acknowledge the souvereignty of Hesse-
Darmstadt. This demand however was not suc
cessful, but by negociations and mediation the
wariike visit Avas brought to an end.
Landgrave Frederick Lewis, who in 1766 suc
ceeded to the government, did much for the em
bellishment of his ,,beloved Homburg." Above all
we have to thank him for the pretty garJens to
wards the mountains that now form an ornament
of our town. Its industry at that time attained
its highest point, so that the little town enjoyed
an extensive reputation. — Homburg at that period
was thei centre of a circle of eminent men, who
had taken up their residence there, in most cases

37

at the invitation of the clever and highly gifted
Landgrave, Among the permanent residents were:
E, Neuhof, V, Creutz, t. Sinclair (Crisalin), Holder-
lin, W, Buri and v. Gerning. Others, as Jung-
Stilling and Lavater, only lived here for a shorter
time. Goethe^s „Lila" (v, Ziegler) was lady of
the court of the Landgravine.
Doling tbe French war the town had to
suffer a good deal from being frequently called
upou for contributions of war and the marching
through and quartering of troops. At the foun
dation of the Confederation of the Rhine the Laud-
graviate of Hesse-Houiburg was placed under the
souvereignty of Hesse-Darmstadt. — At the con
gress of Vienna in 18t5 the independence of Hom
burg was again proclaimed. An anonymous writer
gives this very graphic picture of the little town,
a little before the time when Landgravine Elizabeth
came over to Homburg, as follows: „There are
many living amongst us who can still remember
the old town-house, the half-built Haingasse, which
by a dirty and crooked side-way was joined
with the Jews'-sireet, the numerous little roofs,
projecting above the doors of the houses and the
high staircases that led to them and blocked up
the streets; the facades of the houses, covered with
boards, and these again often With dates, with vines
trained upon them; then the inns and public-hou
ses with tin signs attached to long iron bars, pro-

— 38 —
jecting into the streets which with every blast mo
ved shrieking to and fro; the bad pavement, and the
bad smelling filthy fluid in the gutters, the work
shops of the blacksmiths built nearly into the
middle of the streets; the gardens at the lower
end of the town (down frora the Eagle-Hotel);
the old walnut-trees in this part of the street; the
little guardhouse near the Francfort-gate, on which
a great heraldic lion was painted with the Hes
sian colours, the gallows a little beyond this gate;
a similar guardhouse at the Oberthor (Upper-gate);
the claypit and the deep hollow-way running down
along what is now the Upper- and Lower-Prome
nade; not to mention many other things which
have taken quite a different form since this time."
Under the government of Landgrave Frederick
Joseph a good many embellishments were at great
expense made in Homburg and in the neighbouring
country; numerous frail and unseemly buildings —
amongst others also the old town-house and the
buildings belonging to it — were pulled down,
and in the mean time, new streets were opened
and many handsome buildings were erected; gar
dens and walks, particularly in the neighbouring
mountains and on the ways leading to them, were
newly laid out or embellished.
Landgrave Lewis gave his chief attention to
the use, that might be made ofthe mineral-springs, and
thus laid thc foundation of the later celebrity ot

— 39 —
Homburg. — The same course was followed under
the government of his successor, the Landgrave
Philip. He concluded in the year 1841 (for a
period of 30 years from that time) the play-con
tract with the brothers Blanc, so important in its
consequences for Homburg. (Under the govern
ment of the present Landgrave this contract was
prolonged to the year 1896 and guaranteed by
the government of Hesse-Darmstadt). — Since this
epoch a whole new quarter has sprung up in
Homburg, viz: the lower parts of the Louisenstrasse
and Dorotheenslrasse, the Ludwigsstrasse, Kisse-
leffstrasse. Upper- and lower Promenade, the Schwe
denpfad, Hohestrasse, Kasernenstrasse etc.

The government of Hesse-Hombnrg.
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg is divided
into two provinces — the province of Meisenheim
and the province of Homburg; these two provinces
are not adjoining, but are separated from one an
other by the intervening territories of Nassau and
Hesse-Darmstadt. — In the former, the code Napo
leon regulates judicial proceedings, wTiere as in
the latter the ancient German code combined with
the Roman law still continues to exist. — The
Landgraviate was freed from its temporary depen
dence on the Grandduchy of Darmstadt by the

— 40 —
treaty of Vienna, in 1815 and became au indepen
dent hereditary monarchy; as such it has one vote
in the general assembly and the seventh of a vote
in the ordinary assembly of the diet of the Ger
man Confederation, — In 1848 the late Landgrave
granted his subjects a constitution. In obedience
to its stipulations a legislative assembly, elected
from the two provinces was convoked, but, after
sitting a short time, was prorogued and never
again called together. In 1852 the constitution
itself was withdrawn and in its stead wider po
wers were granted to the united Provincial
Councils. — In order to understand properly
how the provincial councils (Bezfrksrathe) are
composed, it is necessary to state that each parish
(in the province of Honiburg there are 9) is ad
ministratively governed by a burgomaster, nomi
nated by the executive, who is assisted in his
functions by a council, elected by the freeholders
of the parish. These parochial councils in their
turn elect one or more representatives to the Pro
vincial councils. Thus in the Province of Homburg
the Provincial Council consists of 16 members, 4
of whom are elected by the town of Honiburg, by
each of the 6 larger parishes, 1 by two smaller
villages collectively, and 5 are chosen by the exe
cutive amongst the civil officers and the clergy. —
These Provincial councils are called together as
often as the executive pleases, and their advice

- 41 —
is taken with regard to the promulgation of new
laws. They are also able by means of petition
to make the Landgrave acquainted with the wishes
of the country. — The two provincial councils of
Meisenheim and Homburg each elect from their
body 4 members, who meet together in one united
committee. The budget for the following year is
laid before this committee and its consent is theo
retically required in order to levy taxes. The
state-debt amounts to fls, 700,000, the yearly income
to fls. 250,000. The Landgrave himself has private
property in Prussia which brings him in yearly
fls. 54,000. The Landgrave is assisted by a Privy Coun
cil whose members are invested with a general
superintending authority over all branches of the
public service.  The Privy Council however is
rarely called together, and its functions are in re
ality exercised by what is called the directing privy
councillor who may be regarded as holding the
position ot Prime-Minister, —
There is an administrative board, compo
sed of three ordinary members, and three extra
ordinary members, whose functions are similar to
these of the „Home Secretary" in England. One
member of this board is specially charged with
matters regarding religion, another with matters
regarding public health, and another with matters
regarding the „woods and forests." —

— 42 —
A second board, consisting of three mem
bers, is charged with all matters of finance, with
the levying of the taxes and the preparation of
the budget for the Committee of the Provincial-
Assemblies. A third board was established in 1818,
charged with matters regarding public justice and
invested with power to judge appeals from the
inferior courts.
Should a person, having a suit, not be con
tended with the decision of this board, he is all
liberty to demand that the matter be referred to
a German university. The government has a right
to choose the university, but the litigant maj"^, if
he pleases, except any particular three.
There are two courts of first instance,
one situated in, Homburg, and the other in Mei
senheim, Each court consists of a chief justice
and of inferior judges. The chief justice judges
in civil cases. Criminal matters are brought be
fore one of the inferior judges; a jury decides
upon the guilt of the person accused.

The Landgrave's castle.
On the highest point of the hill, on which
the town of Homburg is built, rises the castle, which
commands not onlv the town, but also the whole

43

extensive landscape. Hence also his original name:
„Hoenberg," We have already in the history of the town
related the most remarkable facts about the foun
dation and subsequent fortunes of the castle, to
which we refer the reader, — We have only a
few additional remarks to make about its present
and former possessors.
The castle was inhabited up to the 16th cen
tury by the knights of Brendel of Hoenberg
who held it under feudal tenure from its different
possessors. The Brendels appear already in 1192
as castellans of Eppstein. One John Brendel of
Hoenberg was in the 16th century Burggraf of
Friedberg and a zealous partisan in the religious
dissensions of that period. One Daniel Brendel
of Homburg mounted the archiepiscopal throne of
Mayence; he is named in history as one of the
most energetic and crafty princes of the church.
Another Daniel Brendel seems to have died as
the last male heir of the family in 1632. The
family had possessions held, partly in free allodial,
partly under feudal tenure, not only at Homburg
but also at Kirdorf, Gonzenheim, Oberstedten, Dil-
lingen, Reiffenberg, Friedberg, Vilbel and at other
places. On the elevation of the bailiwick of Homburg to
an independent Landgraviate the castle became the
residence ofthe Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.

44

It is needless to give here a detailed history
of the Landgraviate, as it is closely connected with
that of the town, and we havc already given a
summary of it when describing the latter. Still
we may here appropriatedly give the line of the
Landgraves. Frederick I, born March 5th 1585, entered
upon the government of the Landgraviate: . July
21th 1622, died May 9th 1638.
William Christopher, born November 15th
1625, reigned from 1650 till 1669, died August
27th 1681. He was the founder and at the same
time the only Landgrave of the collateral line of
Bingenheim. George Christian, born December 10th 1626,
died August llth 1677. From 1669 till his
death he was in the possession of the bailiwick
of Homburg, but as it appears, never entered upon
the government. Frederick II, born May 30th 1633, began
to reign 1680, died January 23th 1708. He was
surnamed: „Frederick, with the silver leg," because
after having lost at the siege of Copenhagen in
1C58 his left leg, he had replaced it by a wooden
one, covered with silver. A^ the battle of Fehr-
bellin he, by a resolute attack, contributed not a
little to the victory gained there by the great Elec
tor over the Swedes. Two of his sons fell bravely
on the field of battle.

- 45 —
Frederick (HI) Jacob, born May 19th 1673,
began his reign in 1708, died June 8th 1746. His
son Louis Gruno (bOrn 1705, died 1745) attained
very high and honourable command in the Russian
service. Frederick (IV) Charles, born April 15th
1724, reigned from 1746 till his death, February
7th 1751. Frederick (V) Lewis, born January SOth
1748, commenced his reign 1766, died January
20th 1820. He was in the full sense of the word
„a father of the country.": In 1806 he was depri
ved of his territories by the French wars, but at
their termination they were restored to him and
augmented by the province of Meisenheim, For such
a prize had his 6 sons gloriously fought and bled
in so many battles! Prince Leopold, his youngest
son, (born Februay 10th 1787) died gloriously at
the batUe of Grossgorschen (May 2th 1813).
Frederick (VI) Joseph, born July 30th 1769,
reigned from 1820, died April 2th 1829. He was
married to Elizabeth Princess Royal of Great-
Britain. Entering the Austrian service, he took
part in the Turkish and afterwards in the French
war, and always held a high place Ss general.
Lewis William, born August 29th 1770, died
January 19th 1839. He was in the Prussian ser
vice and distinguished himself several times. He
died as governor of Luxemburg.

/
' — 46

Philip Augustus Frederick, born March llth
1779, died December 15th 1846, He first entered
the Dutch service, fought afterwards in the Ausfrian
service against the French, distinguished hiraself
on many occasions, and rose to the high rank of
a Fieldmarshal, Also as a statesman he had a
high reputation and on several occasions occupied
very important posts.
Gustavus Adolphus Frederick, born Febru
ary 17th 1781, began his reign 1846, died Sep
tember 8th 1848. — He had by his wife Louisa
Frederika of Anhalt-Dessau three children; the
youngest, the hereditary prince Frederick Lewis
Henry Gustavus, born April 6th 1830, died Janu
ary 4th 1848.
The family of the Landgrave now consists of:
The present reigning Landgrave Ferdinand
Henry Frederick, born April 26th 1783, He is not
married. The sister of the Landgrave Augusta Fre-
derika,v. born November 28th 1776, Avidow of the
hereditary Grand-duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
The daughters of Landgrave Gustavus: Ca
roline, born March 19th 1819, widow of the
prince Henry XX of Reuss-Greiz; Elizabeth Louisa
Frederika, born September 30th 1823.
The Landgrave and the princess Elizabeth
live in the castle.
In describing the castle we will first remark

— 47 —
that, after the burning of the old fortress, during
the thirty years war, the building of the present
castle was begun in 1680, and a good deal of the
necessary materials were brought from the Roman
camp of „Saalburg," The building was finished
under Landgrave Frederick Jacob, but it afterwards
received several alterations and embellishments.
Three gates now lead into the castle. The
chief gate, entered from the Herrengasse is decora
ted with ornamental carved stonework. This front
of the castle contains immediately on the left of
the entrance the guardroom, and next to this the
Lutheran church; on the right, on the groundfloor,
the official rooms of the Landgrave's government,
— In coming from the Dorotheenstrasse one enters
by the: „Eiserne Thor" into the castle-garden,
and then by the terrace, running along the castle,
comes to the „Packthor."
Visitors are admitted at all hours of the day
— but to visit the interior, they have to apply to
the porter, whose room is in the hall entered by
the Packthor, and he or some member of his fa
mily will accompany the visitors, show them what
is best worth seeing and give them the necessary
explanations. The castle now contains two large quadran
gular courts. The upper of these courts is open
on one side, and from thence there is a beautiful
view of the mountains. In the middle of this

48

upper-court stands the White Tower, which is
asserted to rest on Roman foundations, and as
high as the battlement to be of ancient origin.
It is 180 feet in height and from its summet there
is a splendid view of the whole country. On the
staircase leading to the entrance of the tower a
Romaii votivestone is let into the wall, which was
found in 1723 close by the Saalburg, We have
given its much disputed inscription, restored ac
cording to the latest reading.
IMP, CAES. M. ATIiEL.
ANTONINO PIO
FEIJCI AVG. PONT.
MAX. BRITANI;';-; MAX.
PARTHICO MAX.
TRIBVNIC. POTE.:-
TATt' XV CCS HI
P. P. PROcos, con mi
vrrtD. ANTONINIANa
SEVOTA NVM. iiVS
If this be the frue version, we have before
us the remains of a memorial, erected A. D. 213
by the fourth cohort of the Vindelicians, called the
Antoninian, in honour of the emperor Caracalla. —
Opposite, on the south-eastern side, stands in a
niche a statue, erected in 1855,
Over the gate leading to the S. W. wing of
this court is a metal bust of Landgrave Frede
rick II. This bust was cast by the Homburg ar
tist Jacobi, the same who also cast the splendid

49

equestrian statue of the Great Elector on the old
bridge of the palace at Berlin. On the opposite
side, over the entrance leading to the lower part
of the court of the castle, appears the stone statue
of the same Landgrave, on horseback, and sur
rounded by warlike devices. The inscription over
the statue describes the Landgrave as the founder
of this castle: „Friedrichsbui"g." The name of
„Friedrichsburg" was not retained.
People visiting the castle are generally first
shown into the collection of antiquities. The
greater part of the objects here exhibited are of
Roman origin, and have been found at the Roman
camp of .,Saalburg", which we intend to include
in our description of the distant points of the
neighbourhood. There is a monumental stone preserved here,
which was dedicated to Jupiter Dolichen by a sol
dier of the 8th legion, of the name of Candidus,
The greater part of the inscription of the stone is il
legible. — A stone on which stood a genius, whose
feet alone are now visible, bears the inscription:
IN, H, D. D. GENIO
C. SO. CVPIT
PRIMIVS, AVSO.
OPTIC. POSIT.
Beneath this inscription is an earlier half
erased inscription, but which is still legible here
and there. „The dedication of the monument 4

50

(according to v, Hefner) was made in honour of
the imperial house (probably of Septimius Se
verus and his family) and was intended for the
Genius of a Century, According lo the first in
scription carved into the stone, the statue was
dedicated by Centurio Satonius Anteas to the Ge
nius of the first Century. According to the second
(given above), a certain Cajus Sosius (?) Cupitus,
Optio of the Century of Primius Auso, erected it."
The inscription on an altar dedicated to For-
tuna is as follows:
FORTVNAE C, MOGILIO
NIVS. PRISCI
ANVS, PRA
EF. CoH. H RAI
C,R.V.S,L,L,M.
In addition to these monumental stones with
partially preserved inscriptions there are to be found
here various other remains and broken pieces of
Roman votivestones; as well as a great many bricks,
stamped with the mark of that division of the
army which had erected the buildings, tiles and
pipes for the warming of the different buildings of
the Saalburg. We find there many and different
marks of the 22d and 8tli legion, the 3d and 4th
cohort of the Vindelicians, the 2d cohort of Roman
citizens. Next to these come different day-vessels,
such as: lamps, cups, pitchers, tearbottles, urns. etc.

— 51 —
But there are also various other metaUic objects,
for instance: remains of swords, lances, and arrow
heads in great number, axes, pincers, keys, sis-
sors, knives, clasps, hairpins, rings, etc, and
lastly a rich collection of coins, for the most part
debased (the pieces are Of lead and only covered
with a very thin coating of silver), a proof that
the emperors lowered tbe standard ofthe imperial
money for the colonies. There are also in the
same chamber several objects belonging to the
later part of the middle-ages.
The gallery of family-pictures next at-~
tracts our attention. It contains the portraits of
the different members of the family and the rela
tions of the Landgraves, The pictures have a
great value from the historical importance of the
persons represented by them, some even as works
of art. — The library contains above 16,000 vo
lumes, amongst which there are very rare and
precious works. The other rooms of the castle,
open, to the public, contain a great variety of works
of art, and amongst these a good many paintings,
objects which have historical importance, valuable
presents of persons of high rank, in shQrt, such
a quantity of curiosities, that we must leave them
for some more detailed description. On the N. W.
and N. side of the castle are the rooms formerly
occupied by the late Landgravine Elizabeth, a
Princess Royal of England. The rooms are

— 52 —
tastefully furnished, partly decorated with objects
of her own work, and are particularly interesting
to English visitors from the circumstance that
they have been left in the same condition as
when occupied by her Royal Highness. — From
some of these apartments the visitor enjoys a most
charming view over the town, the garden of the
castle and the pleasuregrounds extending towards
the mountains, which form a magnificent back
ground to the picture.
The armoury, in a sidewing of the castle,
entered from the Orangeriegasse , contains a
considerable collection of ancient and modern
arms. Chiefly to be remarked are some coats of
armour of the later middle-ages, and many very
curious old guns. The armoury is particularly
rich in objects which are remarkable from having
belonged to distinguished persons. Amongst the
prizes of war, which the brave princes of Homburg
have brought home, are the gold keys of the city
of Lyons, which were delivered by its inhabitants
to the then hereditary prince Frederick Joseph,
after the conquest of the above named city in 1814.
— People are admitted only when applying to the
military-oflice. The gardens of the castle surround the
palace on three sides. The main-entrance is from
the Dorotheenstrasse and Lowengasse by the „Ei-
serne Thor" (iron gate) and they can be visited

— 53 —
from early in the morning until night under the
conditions usual at such places. — Thie garden is
laid out partly in French, partly in English style.
Shady walks and open avenues are varied by
greenswards and handsome flowerbeds. — Two
cedars from the Lebanon — very seldom gro
wing in Germany — stand on the right hand
side of the middle way leading from the Ei-
serne Thor up to the terrace. During the summer
this terrace is decorated with orangetrees. The
lower part of the garden contains two ponds well
stocked wilh fish. The S. W. side is laid out as a
garden, the N. E. side is the kitchen-garden for
the Landgrave's household. At the N, W. end of
the garden begins a large poplar-avenue leading
straight on to the mountains, with gardens partly
belonging to the prince's family, partly the private
property of others, on both sides; which we intend
to describe when describing the immediate neigh
bourhood of Homburg.
The farm (Meierei), lying in the town and
close by the castle we will mention here. It was
finished during the reign of Landgrave Frederick
Joseph, and the large saloon of the |iouse was
then frequently used for theatrical representations
and public amusements. The house with its pretty
garden is no longer employed for its former desti
nation.

54

Situation, hnilding and population of the town.
The town of Homburg is situated 50", 14',
30" N. latitude and 26'', 17' E. longitude. The dis
tance from Frankfort is under I'A; from Mayence 4,
from Darmstadt 4 'A geogr, miles.*)
The old-town begins at the declivity of the
Louisenstrasse, beyond the Judengasse, and con
sists for the most part of small crooked streets.
Some of them are very steep: indeed two flights
of steps lead from tbe Burggasse up lo the Schul-
gasse. The larger of these is broken through the
former wall of the town; at the right hand side of
it is the above mentioned decayed ,,Hexenthurm," —
There are also a few squares in the old town.
We only mention the ,,Rathbausplatz" in the Rath
hausgasse, with the old tower of the town-house.
The open square on the opposite side, which now
offers a fine view towards the mountains, was
tbrmerly occupied by the town-house and other
buildings. The new-town, from the Judengasse doxATi
to the railroad-terminus. The streets are all straight;
and where the buildings are completed well
paved. The „Louisenstrasse'', the main street, is
1000 steps in length and from 45 to 60 feet in
breadth. From the former name Louisenstadt this

*) 1 geogr. mile is equal to 4*/s Engl, miles.

— 55 —
street has still preserved its name. Nearly parallel
with this run on. the S. W. side, the Dorotheen
strasse, and on the N. E, side, the Promenade,
which is continued by the Hohestrasse, The Pro
menade, divided by the Kurgarden into the Upper-
and Lower-Promenade, . with its fine avenue of
limes and elms, will be, when finished, the finest
street of the town. A little garden must be laid
out before every house in this street. The open
squares in this part of the town are: The Market
place at the upper end of the Louisenstrasse, the
square before the orphan-house and the fine square
before the Kurhaus.
The population of Homburg has more than
doubled within the last fifty years. The last cen
sus gave the number of 7,244 inhabitants. They
were divided into:

Lutherans . - .

3,519

German Calvinists

649

FreQch Calvinists.

68

Duited Church, .

614

Rom. Catliolicks .

1,352

German Ciitholicks

2

Jews 

565

The chief subsistance of the inha|)itants of
Homburg consists, together with a good deal of
agriculture, in the gains which they make more
or less directly from the numerous visitors of the
town.

56

The visitors and their sojonrn.
The increasing number of visitors is the best
test of the rising prosperity of the town.
The first „Kurliste", published in the year
1834 shows only 155 foreigners whilst that of
the year 1861 showed the number of 10,583, the
greatest number of summer-visitors on record. The
greater facility of conveyance will probably have
a very favourable influence on the influx of foreig
ners to Homburg, and the number will certainly
be considerably increased.
Throughout the whole year there are foreig
ners at Homburg; the greatest number are found
in August, the smallest in December. According
to accurate computation of their nationalities the
greatest number are Germans, next follow French,
English, Belgians, Russians and Poles, Ducbmen,
Swedes etc. In the middle of winter their pro
portion is exactly the following: Fi-ench, one
half, Germans, one fourth, English, one eighth,
Belgians, one sixteenth, and the remaining six
teenth of other nations.
The regulations concerning the stay ofthe
visitors are as follows: Every stranger must be
announced by his landlord at the police office,
together with his condition and place of residence,
on the morning following its arrival or departure.
The same is to be done Avhen only changing

— 57 —
lodgings. The hotel keepers particularly are ob
liged to present the strangers-book to all passing
the night in their houses, to make them write
down their name, etc. — Every one is obliged to
present his papers to the police, when required.
During the winter-season ¦ — from November 1.
till May 1. this additional regulation is to be ob
served: If the stay of the foreigner lasts more than
48 hours, his passport must be deposited at the
police-office till his departure, and he receives in
return a permit of residence, called: „Legitima-
tionskarte." The Kur- and Badeliste is the official paper,
which gives the list of the strangers, and appears
in summer from 2 to 5 limes a week. During
the winter this list is published in another official
paper, called the Amts- and lutelligenzblatt.
The visitors of Homburg may be divided into
those who come for health, those who come for
pleasure, and those who come for both. For
both the purposes Homburg holds out sufficient
enducements; and its excellent mineral springs, as
well as its healthy, charming situation, will al
ways place it in the first rank of watering places.
For complaints of the chest the air of Homburg is
perhaps to exciting. Also for most foreigners the
greatest care must be enjoined during the sudden
changes of weather in spring and autumn, and
they must especially guard against the risk of

— 58 —
cold from the fogs, which often prevail here in
the evenings, as in most mountain countries. Con
tagious diseases appear only very rarely and in
isolated cases, and as yet the town has been al
together spared by Asiatic cholera.
The ressources of Homburg are such that the
highest demands of luxury can be satisfied and at
the same time they are adapted for simple and
cheap living.
The hotels are with regard to luxury and
good service not inferior to those of all the wate
ring-places. — There is in the hotels and restau
rants a table d'hote at 1 o'clock, and in some also
at 5; people can also dine there a la carte at every
hour of the day. In some of the restaurants a
dinner is to be had for 24 kr., in the hotels the
price mounts to 1 fl. 45 kr. — Dinners out of
the house are sent by: the Hotel de France, the
Rose, the Taunus, the kleine Biergrund etc.
Apartments are to be found in all the hotels
and inns: a tolerable bed-room will cost from
36 kr. up to 3 fls. a day. Also most of the other
houses are arranged for reception of foreigners and
a great many houses in the finest situations are
built for this especial purpose. The prices of the
apartments are regulated both by the situation and
by the season. The highest prices are paid during
the middle of the summer and in the houses next
to the Kursaal and the mineral-waters (Promenade,

59

Ludwigsfrasse and Kisseleffstrasse.) The weekly
rent for a furnished room will therefore vary from
4 to 12 -fls.
It will be difficult to provide one's self with
provisions, as for the sake of room, most of the
new houses have but one kitchen, but breakfast
and tea will be furnished in every house by the
landlord. The landlodrs of private houses are not ans
werable by law for losses by theft in their houses,
even if the key had been put on the key-board. —
All foreigners remaining by the week or month
will do well to have an agreement.
As to amusements, Homburg and its environs
afford ample opportunities. Those who prefer more
elevated pleasures will find them in the Kursaal
in the daily performances of the orchestra, and
occasionally in concerts given by the greatest per
formers; others will find occupation in the reading-
rooms, well supplied with all the principal news
papers. The gambling-rooms being an eldorado
for the players offer moreover an ample study to
the attentive observer. The balls in the Kursaal
satisfy those fond of the dance. The rustic-dances
which used to enchant so many English and French
writers, have latterly been confined to shooting-
matches and village-festivals.
Foreigners may find a very friendly reception

— 60 -
in reunions and clubs, when introduced by a member
of the society.
Lovers of the chace and of fishing will find
good sport in the woods, fields and brooks. The
right of shooting and fishing over a considerable
tract is rented by the Kursaal-administration, and
a stratiger has only to apply there in order to be
provided gratis with a licence, and if required with
guns etc.
Those who like target-shooting can be pro
vided with rifles and pistols at the ground of the
shooting-club and have to pay 3 kr. for every
rifle-shot, for 25 shots with a pistol 1 fl.
Besides aU this, the beauty of the country
will amply reward the walks of the lovers of na
ture, while the neighbourhood of Frankfort will
give them close at hand the contrast of city-life.
— We shall endeavour in a following chapter of
this work to lay before our readers the most re
markable points of the neighbourhood. *)

Fnblic bnildings and establislunents,
1. Public offices.
The president's house in the Dorotheen
strasse, near the castie-garden. In this building
''') For the situation of the places in the uiouutaios see :
„6reb's map of the district of Homburg", for more dis
tant points: „Baven5tein's map of Francfort and its
nci!jhl)ourhood."

61

are the apartments of the Landgrave's privy-coun
cillor, and besides, on the groundfloor, the office
of the privy- council on the left, and on thp right
hand side the office for jeceiving taxes.
The office of the government and the office
of the commission for extinghuishing the state-debt
are in the East-wing of the castle to the right of
the principal entrance.
The Amthaus, in the lower part of the Do
rotheenstrasse was built under the government of
Landgrave Frederick Joseph and considerably en
larged in 1853. In the first floor and partly also
in the second are the offices of the courts of jus^
tice and police. In the second floor is the hall where
the assizes are held. Part of the ground-floor and
the bnildings in the court-yard are used for prisons.
The office of the burgomaster is in the
first floor of the building of Rind's charitable in
stitution in the Elizabethenstrasse.
The custom- and excise-office is now:
Nro, 44 Louisenstrasse, in the first floor.
The barracks, in the Upper-Promenade, op
posite the Kasernenstrasse, were built in 1859.
They are large enough to hold a bataillon. Behind
the barracks is the military-hospital^[and behind
this the exercise-ground of the troups.
2. Churches.
The Stadtkirche, belonging to the Lutheran
congregation, forms the eastern part of the castie.

62

It was built under the reign of Landgrave Frede
rick I, restored under that of Landgrave Frederick H
and then joined to the castle. Its consecration
took place in the year 1697. The outside of the
church is very insignificant, its interior on the
contrary is simple, yet sufficiently ornamented, to
give it a cheerful appearance. The principal en-
ti'ance is from the Schlossgasse, Under the altar
is the burial-place of the Landgrave's family, in
which not only almost all the members of the
princely house of Hesse-Homburg but also many
other persons pf princely rank have found thefr
last rest. Both the Lutheran aod Calvinistic ser
vice are held in this church twice every Sunday.
English divine service is also performed in this
church according to the rites of the established
church of England.
The church of the Calvinists is situated
in the upper part of the Dorotheenstrasse. The
first stone was laid in 1715 and the church was
only consecrated in the year 1724, As the Luthe
rans have allowed the use of iheir church to the
Calvinistic Qongregation. the Calvinists have enti
rely given up their own church to tbe use of the
Roman Catholicks,
The jews' synagogue stands in the Juden
gasse, Being too small for the present Israelitish
congregation, a new one is intended to be built
in a few years time.

— 63 —
Divine Service.
The Lutheran and Calvinistic divine ser
vice is held every Sunday at 97^ in the morning
and at 1 Va in the afternoon and is visited by both
the congregations. The ministers are: Dr. Lieber-
knecht, Consistorialrath and Holprediger, (Calv.
faith); Gross, Oberpfarrer, and Enke, Stadtpfarrer.
(Luth. faith.)
The English divine service is also held
twice every Sunday; at IIV2 in the morning and
at 3V2 in the afternoon. Minister: the Rev^; Mr.
Butler. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is
administered to the English congregation during
the morning-service on the first Sunday of every
month, Thew^hole amount of the sacramental
money is handed over by the Revl- Mr, Butler to
the German (Clergymen to be distributed among
the poor of the towu. The church is supported
by voluntary contributions, for which purpose a
book is sent round to the English visitors of the
place. For non-subscribers a plate is held at the
door of the church when the service is ended. —
A voluntary collection for the repair of the church
is made amongst the English congregation once
a year, on a Sunday in July or August.
The Roman Catholick service is held twice
every Sunday. Mass begins at 6 or at 7 o'clock
and high-mass at 10 Va in the morning. — Pre-

— 64 —
sent officiating minister: Hiither, Geistlicher Rath,
and resident minister at Kirdorf.
3. Burial-places.
The burial-place of the Lutherans, N.
W. of tbe town, on the right hand side of the
high-road to Domholzhausen, is of tolerable extent
and is tastefully laid out with garden-walks. Per
sons of every Christian faith, natives and foreig
ners, are allowed burial here.
The burial-place of the Calvinists, is
just opposite the former on the left side of the
highroad. Here also — admittance is not confined
to any particular faith, A remarkable building is
to be seen here: ,.the holy sepulchre,'- which had
been built at Gelnhausen by the emperor Frederick I
(Barbarossa) , on the model of that at Jerusalem,
and which after having been bought by Landgrave
Frederick Joseph, was pulled down and reerected
at this place in 1821.
The burial-place of the Roman Catho
licks, N. of the town, on the left side of the
road ,^Glockensteinweg," was only consecrated in
1854. The burial-place ofthe Jews, lies on the
edge of the wood between Homburg and Seulberg,
yet nearer to the latter place. A charming walk
through the woods leads to it.

— 65 -
4. Educational establishments.
The town-school, at the upper end of the
Luisenstrasse. The building was renovated under
the reign of Landgrave Frederick Joseph and the
new school opened in 1831. It is attended by
more than 550 children , who are taught by 8
masters in 8 different classes, according to the
class-system. A little bell calls the children to
school every morning and afternoon. Every body
is obliged to send his child to school and a fine
of 8 kr. is imposed for each day's non-attendance.
The masters are appointed by the govertiment, but
paid by the town. Every child pays only a florin
a year for its teaching. Children of foreigners
are admitted and obliged to pay 5 fls, a year.
Strangers wishing to examine the course of edu
cation are willingly admitted. A class for drawing
and needle-work is attached to the school.
The infant-school, on the Rathhausplatz,
existing since 1842, is, now attended by more
than 100 children. The building was erected in
1845 by voluntary contributions and is still so
maintained. For one kreuzer a day, a- child is
not only instructed in the principles of reading,
writing and religion, but also receives a good
dinner. This institution has had a most beneficial
influence amongst the poorer classes of the popu
lation. Professor Goepel's private school for
5

66

boys. The subjects on which insfruction is given
are: Latin, Greek, English, French, mathematics,
physic, chemislery, history, geography and book
keeping. It may at the same time be regarded as
a preparatory school for colleges as well as a
mercantile school. It is attended now by 120
boys, who are taught by 12 masters.
The Ladies-school of Misses Berga and
Mr. Seidenstricker. The particular objects of
the school are a more finished education for the
young ladies, and instruction in French and English.
French is the language lor conversation in the
school. 110 young ladies now attend this school and
are taught by 14 masters and mistresses.
Further private schools are: Mr, J, Rapp's
commercial-school. Boys, of every faith, girls,
only of Israelitish faith, are admitied. — Mr. Fritz's
school, in which are taught the first principles
of instruction. Mrs. Oehlemann's school for diild
ren from 4 to 8 years of age, who are taught there
the first principles of general instruction and of
the French language.
Numerous private-masters give lessons in an
cient and modern languages, in music, drawing,
mathematics etc. The usual price is a florin a
lesson. 5. The town-library.
The rooms of this establishment, wliich was
founded by a circle of readers in the year 1841,

— 67 —
are at present in the „Deutsches Haus" hi the
Dorotheenstrasse, opposite the Armengasse. The
library now contains 6000 volumes, of the stan
dard works of ancient and modern German and
foreign authors. The library is open every Wed
nesday and Saturday from 2 to 5 o'clock in the
afternoon. The members of the society pay 36 kr.
a year and are allowed two works at a time, which
they can change twice a week; foreigners pay 48 kr.
for the first and 24 for every following month,
whilst a yearly subscription is only 1 fl. 45 kr.
Besides this, books, chiefly of light literature,
are to be had at the various booksellers.
For the English a religious library is held
by the Revl; Mr, Butler, and books are given, when
asked for, gratis, 6. Charities.
The Orphan-house stands at the corner of
the Luisenstrasse and Armengasse, The building was
begun in 1715 and applied to its destination only
in 1742. The income of the establishment is made
up by the interest of its own property and by
voluntary contributions. Presents of money can
be put into the boxes, which for this purpose are
hung up in the room of every public office and in
every inn, or into the poor-box, standing at the
enfrance of the house.
The Poor-house is adjoining with the former.
This estabhshment, which was formerly a house

— 68 —
of correction, ceased to be used for this purpose
in 1831. Poor, old, decrepit persons find there an
asylum. Here also are received those inhabitants
of our bailiwick, who have become reduced through
disorderly life and idleness, and by appropriate
discipline are brought as far as possible into use
ful employment. Rind's charitable institution, was founded
by a rich man of that name at Homburg, in order
to enable poor old citizens, male and female, to
pass the rest of their life there in comfort and
quiet. Only persons above sixty and with good
characters are admitted. The building was erected
with the funds of the estabhshment during the
reign of Landgrave Frederick Joseph and is situ
ated in the Elisabethenstrasse. — In the same
building are the offices of the Burgomaster, the
town-cashier, the offices for the regulation of the
taxes and for gauging.
The hospital was founded in 1846 from the
funds of a charitable bequest, made by a Homburg
lady of the name Schiitz, and by a few voluntary
contributions. It stands in the Elisabethenstrasse,
in the court-yard of the pawn-house, with one
side facing the Upper-Promenade. Sick persons,
both natives iand foreigners who are without the
means of livehhood find there admittance, support
and medical assistance. The establishment is now
chiefly supported by voluntary subscriptions, for

— 69 —
which purpose a collector is sent round to the vi
sitors of this place, and by a trifling monthly con
tribution by servants, workmen etc. and their
masters. The pawn-house, situated in the Elisa-
bethensfrasse is open all day. Mr. Sauer, jeweller,
is entitled by the direction of the pawn-office to
accept pledges of greater value in his shop. The
interest is on moderate terms and fixed by the
government. The savings-bank, an establishment of
great benefit to the poor, who can lodge there as
small a sum as 5 fls, and increase their deposits;
at pleasure for which they receive 3% p. a.
The district-charitable-institution for
the poor consists pf local-charities in every vil
lage in the district of Homburg. For the town of
Homburg an almoner is named for every quarter
of the town, to whom people, wanting support,
have to apply.
The ladies charitable society formed by
ladies of all classes of society, distributes alms to
the poor, according to the statutes of the.foundation.
The charitable institution to assist the
poor in the country etc. etc.
Societies for mutual support are: The Bfir-
ger-Kranken- and BegrSLbniss-Kasse (the
citizens' caisse for sick persons and for burials),
which supports sick members of the society, by a

— 70 —
sum of money paid weekly. A portion of the
burial-fund is especially allotted for burials. After
the death of one of the members a certain contri
bution is levied amongst the others of which thc
whole amount is handed to his family, to cover
the expences of the buriaU In a similar way are
founded and managed various other burial-funds.
The widows-fund, for the support of the
widows of civil officers of the Landgraviate, is
formed by contributions of all the civil servants
in proportion to their salaries.
The Israelitish community have besides thefr
own particular charitable institutions.
7. Physiciilns.
Dr. Fred. Miiller, 10 Dorotheensfrasse.
Dr. Deetz, 26 Upper-Promenade.
Dr. Friedlieb, 47 Dorotheensfrasse.
Dr. Wilh. Miiller, 11 Dorotheensfrasse,
Dr, Schilling, 15 Lowengasse.
Dr. Zurbuch, 6 Hohesfrasse.
Dr. K. Miiller, 11 Dorotheenstrasse.
Dr. Prytherch for the English residents, 70
Luisenstrasse. Dr. Gardey for the French residents, Lui
senstrasse. Dr. Binsack, veterinairy surgeon. 105 Lui
senstrasse,

— 71 —
8. Surgeons-assitants.
G. Becker (surgeon and dendist.)
J. Becker.
Kesselschlager. Schneider. 9. Apothecaries.
Mr. A. Riidiger, apothecary to the court, 55
Luisenstrasse. Mr. L. Blass, 7 Schulgasse.
10. Baths.
The large bath-house stands on the S. E.
side of the Kurhaus; it is a handsome building,
which contains about 50 bath-rooms, fitted up
with every regard to elegance and comfort. All
sorts of mineral water- and pine-baths are to be
got there. The establishment is also arranged for
shower-, douche- and steam-baths. I'he house stands
under the immediate direction of the Kurhaus-ad-
ministration. Terms: A single bath: By subscription:
1) shower-bath . — fl. 30 kr. — fl. 30 kr.
2) mineral-bath . — „ 48 „ — „ 42 „
3) fresh- water-bath — „ 42 „ — r „ 36 „
4) douche-bath . 1 „ — „ — ?! 54 „
5) steam-bath . . 2 „ 24 „ 2 „ 9 „
Besides these there are bathing-establishments
in the houses of:
Mr, Busch, Haingasse; Mr, Kessel, Luisen
strasse; Mr, Kester, Hohestrasse; F. Stroh, Doro-

— 72 —
theenstrasse; G. Vogt, Thomassfrasse; M. Volk U,
Luisenstrasse; Westerfeld, Luisenstrasse.
Cold fresh- water-baths :
The cold-water-establishment: „Pfingst-
brunnen," on the left hand side of the poplar-
alley, leading from the castle to the woods, has
taken its name from a spring, called Pfingstbrunnen
(Whitsuntide-spring.) The charming situation of
this establishment in a parklike garden and the
comfortable arrangement of the baths are chiefly
to be remarked. The mountain-spring, which is
used for the baths, is not only very abundant,
but extremely clear and pure. Its cool tempera
ture in summer and winter never exceeds 48 to
51" F. (8— 9» R). The water flows immediately
from the spring into the bathing-rooms, where
the douche falls down from a height of 20 feet
and the rising water reaches a height of 16 to 18
feet. Shower-baths, douche, wave, hip and plunge
can be taken at all hours of the day. The hip
baths are supplied by a stream of water perpetu
ally fresh. Tickets are to be had at Mr. Welsch's,
10 Hohestrasse. Terms:
A single bath of any of the
above descriptions . — fl. 36 kr. = 1 Sh.
Six batiis by subscription 3 „ — u = 5 „
Twelve baths  6 „ — „ = 10 „
Twenty-four baths ... 10 „ — „ = 17 ,.

— 73 —
Tickets are only available for the hour speci
fied upon them.
The fee for the attendant of either sex is not
included in the above prices. It is 6 kreuzers
(2 pence) for every bath.
Neglect or incivility from any one connected
wilh the establishment will be instantly redressed
by applying to the inspector, or to one of the re
sident physicians at Homburg.
Other cold fresh-water-baths are to be had:
1) In the garden at the corner of the Hohe
strasse and the f,neue Weg," The water runs
into large bathiug^tubs of zink and can also be
given in the form of douche. A single bath costs
18 kr. (6 pence), by subscription it is cheaper;
2) At the Neumiihle, opposite the castie-garden,
on the way to Oberursel. Terms: 16 kr. a single
bath, cheaper by subscription. 11. The Kurbaus.
The Kurhaus stands in the newer part of the
town, between the Luisenstrasse, Promenade, Lud
wigsfrasse and Schwedenpfad. *
It was erected at different periods. The ori
ginal building was built after the plan of the Munich
architect Metivier, and carried out by the Francfort
architect Peipers. It was commenced in 1841 and
ended in 1843. In 1851 two sidewings were ad
ded by the Belgian architect Chiysenar. These

74

buildings having been found insufficient, the whole
was greatly enlarged in 1861, and a symmetrical
new frontage added, also by Cluysenar. The present
Kurhaus, when completed, will be the largest and
in its interior arrangements the most splendid of
all buildings of that kind. The whole will be
carried out in pure rennaissance style with arch
windows and pilasters on both floors of the frontage.
At the upper end Of the old Kurhaus a large
building vvas added, containing the directors apart
ments; this forms the corner of the Luisensfrasse
and the Schwedenpfad, and is 95 feet in length and
115 feet in depth; at the lower end a theatre w^as
added, which forms the corner of the Luisenstrasse
and Ludwigsfrasse; a large cafe with billiards
adjoins it, so that thej^ form but one frontage, but
are separated in the interior by a small court.
These two wings, which measure 115 feet in
depth, form, with the centrebuilding of the Kurhaus
and the Luisenstrasse, an oblong square of 286 feet
in length and 115 feet in breadth. This square is
adorned with pretty flowerbeds, and in summer
with 40 magnificent orange-trees, arranged in rows
up to the principal entrance. This latter consists
of three doorways, to which one ascends by a flight
ol steps. One then enters a gallery 286 feet in
length and 30 feet in breadth. The space above
it, is occupied by 3 large rooms. This gallery runs
along the whole of the cenfrebuilding and con-

— 75 —
nects the two wings. It is not continued to the
W. wing of the Kurhaus, but runs into the E.
wing up to the theafre, of which it forms the en
trance halL
The theatre is 143 feet in length and 87 feet
in breadth, its stage 62 feet in breadth and 39 V2
feet in depth, and the house is capable of holding
600 persons. The entrances lead to it from the
W. side. The scenery and decorations are by the
famous Muhldorfer of Mannheim.
Close behind the above mentioned gallery, in
the central part, lies the old Kurhaus proper.
The principal entrance leads through the gal
lery to a corridor from which you enter directly
the large ball- and concert-room. At either
end of this, there is a gallery supported by marble
pillars. The walls are of stucco and the floor is
nicely inlaid. The fresco-paintings on the ceiling
are by the well known Conti from Munich, and
the stucco by the brothers Viotti from Milan,
The S. W. wing of the Kurhaus forms the
large dining room, which was desfroyed by fire
in the autumn of 1860 and restored in 1861. Bet
ween this and the large ball-room, is the room,
called „Cafe olympique", remarkable for its fine
decorations. In the north-western wing is the large gamb
ling room. Even if not decorated in the same
simple and elegant style as the other rooms it never-*-

76

theless appears richer and more brillant than
all the others through the paintings of the Belgian
artists Gowards and van Bree. In this salon, are
two gambling-tables. Two double doors lead from
it to the second gambling-room, which is built
in an oblong form, with two bows in the cenfre,
adjoining the former, and facing the Schwedenpfad.
The decorations of this room are very splen
did, the paintings are by the above mentioned ar
tist Gowards. It was begun in 1861, finished in
1862. In this room also are two gambling tables;
others stand in two adjoining rooms. — Play
begins in summer and in winter at 1 1 o'clock in
the morning and continues without intermission
till ll o'clock at night. The games are: „Roulette"
and „Trente-et-Quarante." Adjoining thegambling-rooms are two reading
rooms, in which news-papers in all the dif
ferent European languages are kept for the free
use of the visitors. It is also arranged, that on
request, news-papers may be brought to private
lodgings, two days later than they are brought
to the Kursaal.
The Prinzensaal, on the first floor, is used
now and then for concerts and for smaller dancing-
parties, arranged by private families, who then
have only to pay any musicians w^ho may be en
gaged. — Two grand pianos stand there, which
can be used gratis. For the key people are to

— 77 —
apply to one of the porters. The decorations of
the room are by the late Conti.
Besides the above mentioned rooms the old
part of the Kurhaus contains some other rooms
for playing chess or draughts, a room for private
dinners, a smoking-room etc.
The restaurant in the Kurhaus is held by
the famous Paris-cook: Chevet.
The office of the administration of the
Kurhaus is on the left hand of the corridor,
when entering the building.
The first room in the passage, leading to the
large dining room is the bureau of the commis
sioner of the Kurhaus. — His office is to su
perintend the police regulations of the house, par
ticularly in case of any disturbance or disorder, and
to give visitors information with regard to the
establishment. — A commissary of the govern
ment is also appointed to look after the fulfilment
of the conditions of the gambling-contract, and to
mediate between the administration and the govern
ment. This duty is performed by Mr. Schaffner,
secretary to the government, '
On the backside of the Kurhaus are two hand
some terraces, adorned with flowers. A broad
flight of stairs leads over them from the Kurhaus
into the garden. The upper one is covered with
a glass-roof, resting on iron pillars and affords
shelter during sudden showers. In winter it is

78

closed in, so as to form a conservatory or rather
winter garden in the cold season.
The Kurgarten is the pleasantest resort for
foreigners during summer. It is particularly crow
ded on fine Sunday afternoons, when not only the
numerous resident visitors, but also a great number
of those coming from the neighbouring towns and
villages, as well as the inhabitants of Homburg, sit
down in groups, or walk up and down the lawns
and broad walks. — During the season, (if the
weather is tolerably favourable) the orchesfra plays
from 2Vj to 4 o'clock and from 6V2 to 8 o'clock
every afternoon. If the weather is very fine and
calm, the garden is splendidly illuminated once a
fortnight and the orchestra or a military band from
Francfort or Mayence play from 8 to 10 o'clock
in the evening.
The Chinese temple which stands in the
lower end of the garden, at the corner of the Lud-
wigstrasse, is a very pretty spot. People have there
a very fine view of the ,,new-grounds" up to the
mountains and down to the mineral-waters. These
new grounds were planned by Mr, Lenne, director
of the Royal gardens at Berlin and laid out in
1854. Where there were formerly nothing but corn
fields and grassland, there has now risen a smiling
garden. Greensward, varied by flowerbeds, or by
shrubs and groups of trees, extends from the
Lower-Promenade to the Hardbach, and connects

- 79 —
these w.ilks with those near the mineral-springs.
In the middle of the grounds is a pretty j)ond,
wliich was made at the same time.
12. Hoteis.
The names are: The Hotel de Russie, the Hotel
Imperial, the Four Seasons, the Hiitel de I'Europe,
the Hotel d'Angleterre, the Hotel de Hesse, the
Adler Hotel, the Hotel de Hollande, the Rose etc.,
all situated in the Luisenstrasse, and the Hotel de
Belle Vue, in the Ludwigsfrasse.
Further restaurants, wine- and beer
houses are: the Gambrinus, the Restaurants of
Sturm and Sauer, tbe Taunus, the Krone, all situ
ated in the Luisenstrasse, the Frankfurter Hof in
the Haingasse, the Johannisberg and la Ville de Strass-
bourg in the Thomassfrasse, the town of Heidelberg
in the Dorotheenstrasse, the Landsberg in the Lo
wengasse, the Nassauer Hof at the Unterthor, the
Lowen and the Town of Friedberg at the Oberthor etc.
Billiards are to be found at the Cafe Frank,
Hotel de France, Hotel de Hollande, at Sauer's etc.
Beergardens: at the Rose, the town of Fried
berg, H. Sauer's, L, Wall's etc,
13. Markets.
There is a market held every day. * It begins
in summer at 7 o'clock, and in winter at 8 o^clock
in the morning and lasts till 11 o'clock. People
may find there: corn, potatoes, vegetables, fruit,
butter, cheese, eggs, fowl, "fish, game etc. The

80

market-place is at the corner of the Luisenstrasse
and the Haingasse. — Besides these daily markets,
6 fairs are held every year. At these fairs are
sold woollen and cotton stuffs, articles of millinery,
together with the wares of shoemakers, saddlers,
ropers, smiths, pewterers, tinmen, turners, basket-
makers, potters etc,
14. Banks and Agencies.
The chartered commercial bank was foun
ded in shares by a society in 1855. The estab
lishment has been chartered by the government for
the benefit of commerce and the public in gene
ral, for the duration of 50 years. Besides the
common banking-affairs, the establishment has also
the direction of the pawn-house of this place. The
bank is authorized to issue notes, without paying
interest to the amount of the capital of shares
(1,000,000 fls.) The banking house is next door
to the English Hotel, in the Luisenstrasse.
Banks and exchange-offices are held by
B. Goldschmidt, B. J. Goldschmidt, Rothschild and
Wormser. The general-agency office of G. Scliudt,
son, is chief-agency of the Berlin fire-insurance
and of the rent-, capital- and life-insurance-bank
„Teutonia" in Leipzig.
Besides these, the following insurance-com
panies have agencies in Homburg: the Aachen-
Miinchen-fire-insurance, the Colonia, the Concordia,

— 81 —
the Darmstadt rent-insurance, the Francfort life-
insurance etc. etc.
The agency-office of F. W. Schick, pro
vides families with apartments, servants etc., me
diates the sale or purchase of houses, procures
money, or invests it on good security, and under
takes a good many other commissions.
The burial-establishment executes for fixed
prices the necessary arrangements for a christian
burial. These prices are fixed by the government;
but thiey do not include the remuneration for the
clergyman for the burying-place, the fee for tolling
the bells etc. etc.
15, Shops and Worli-shops.
There are two book-shops in this town, viz:
those Fr, Fraunholz and of L. Schick. To both
the shops are joined large cfrculating libraries,
containing a great choice of works of German,
English and French literature. Music is to be had
at Schick's and at Balmer's. Pianofortes are to be
got at F, Fraunholz's hbrary, at Balmer's, Kraetzer's
and at Maurer's (Upper-Promenade), Antiquities
are sold and purchased by J. Sommer (Luisensfrasse).
In numerous other shops are to Tbe found
manufactured and fancy-articles, watches, jewels, ar
ticles of gold, silver, iron, steel, brass, wood, glass,
agate, china, etc. in short all articles necessary for
comfort, as well as most ofthe requisites of luxury.
6

— 82 -
There are a grSsft njimber Of shop«s for 'co
lonial and native produce and a ^gt^dt many ba
ker's and butcher s shops. The prices of their
articles are superintended by the poliiseand pub
lished in the Amtsblatt. The 'Confectioners are:
Hirth, Sfroh and Vogt. The iwine-Tuerefaants are:
W. Chevalier, J. Burther, F. Maehlefrt, L. Rnppel,
F. "Scheller and others. Thes fcyvp first 'send great
quantities of wine over to England and have thefr
agents in London, Edinburgh and Dublin etc. Mr.
Hiirther is also the proprietor of a large manufac
tory of sparkling wine. Mr, ScheUer has an ex
tensive frade in vinegar and liqueurs, K. Fuchs,
K, Nagel, F, Volk and L. Wall are proprietors of
large Bavarian beer breweries.
There are 'af Roiribiirg tWa printing-ioffices,
S^Wal phtJtogtftphlC ateliefrs, as "MtJser's (70 Luisen
strasse), Hilliger's and Danhhof's (Promeriatfe) ^ttd
^hops'fo'r' musical and Ofiticdl insfrunitnts. 'Sh-.W.
Steeg (1 Upp^r-Promendde), utfahdfectttrer of appa-
i-atds ahd cty^^tels for ex:hibitiilg thte 'prolariiation
an^d inf6rf(6reT«<ie of'li^ht is We'll 'knoWn ^ttottgst
thfe ndtUi-al p'hilOtSOpherS. His Crystals ai'e n'owtex-
hibitt^d in nearly "Cy^ry cabinet for minerals, ahd'he
h'as'mdl-e'brder^ th'Ah he can "esfcfe'dte. — A'toongst
sevdfal 'hdt-tnaftlifact6riies"that of Mr. Ttfoeiikfeil 'is
very C6rislderable. The same ' ni^y be saM of the
leather -iWanufactOl-y "of the brothers HAns«iMh,
whilst "the g^Wtiiie-ttrihufamry tif G. F. IJW^Hlfer

has <a large expoi^t and tis ^mous for the ipurity
and clearness of its produce.
Besides .these we imay mention .tJie .wliite lead-
>manufactory ,Qf IC. Schellfir son,, jtl^e ^stcjam Aa;w-
miU of Mr, J. Sauer, the ,tilpykiln and jior^elain
manufactory Waldegg,, a jpojttery, several brickr-
kilns, a tannery, and a dyeing esta|)li^lnq[en]li.
The gas-manufactory , situated next tp the
tile-kiln, „Wald^g" belongs to the tenants pf
the Kurhaus. The general lighting of the town
by ,gas was .commence^ in 1859,
'ifi. Conveyances. •
The Homburg railway was constructed in the
year 1859 — 60, and is the property of a company
of shareholders. The inauguration took place,
Septbr. 10th. 1860. The line Jfrom Homburg to
Francfort is 2V2 geogr. miles ^(18,115 metres) )in
length. The stations are: Oberursel, Weisskirchen
and 'B^delheim- More detailed lexpl^qations about
the railway are .given in the: „ReguJfttiops awd
prospectns iof .th@ railway" , published twice. evjjry
year. Tihe fares iire:
a <I class-'ticket to Exancfort . 1 flj, ^- kr.
a n „ ,j ,i, .„ . :^^ „ 36 „
• a Ul „ „ „ „ . ¦ .„ a „;
100 pounds of luggage „ .. . -^ ^, 25 „
iRetu^rn tickets ;m»y be obtainjed, biut with
out any modiiication of the ^rice, iffee 'railway-

— 84 —
terminus at Hombuig stands at the lower end of
the Luisenstrasse. The post-office, 40 Luisenstrasse, is open in
summer from 7 o'clock in the morning till 8 o'clock
in the eveiiing. Letters must be brought half an
hour, and parcels an hour before the d^ature -of
the mailtrains. The Engl. !post via Ostende leaves at 1 o'clock;
that via Calais at 7 o'clock in the afternoon. The
weight 'of a single letter via Calais cannot exceed
V4 of an ounce, whilst V2 ounce is allowred via
Ostende. A daily diligence goes to Weilburg by
Usingen and another to Frieiirichsdorf. — An om
nibus goes twice a \veek from Usingen by Hom
burg to Francfort during the Francfort fafr.
Drowskies (hack-cabs), are placed at diffe
rent parts of the town. A table of fares must be
attached tO the inside of every carriage.
The particular regulations are: 1) Payment
may be demanded for distance from the stand to
the point of departure. No return fare without
passengers can be demanded. 2) Since the coach
man is paid according to time, he has to show
his watch .before starting. 3) A single drive within
the town or to the mineral w^aters is to be reQJi-
onied as V4 of an hour. 4) Children under 4 years
of age, accompanied by grown up persons, do not
pay. 5) Aft«r midnight the fare is double, and for

— 85 —

the carriage lights, 2 kr; are to be paid for every
quarter of an hour. 6) Luggage, when consisting
only of a frunk or a carpet-bag, is taken gratis,
but 4 kr. are charged for every additional parcel,
7) The coachman is not allowed to, take any re
muneration beyond the sum fixed in the table,, but
the toll is to be paid extra.
The fares for a drowsky w:iilji one horse aro
as follows:

liengtb

Drives

Drives

of the

both, within the town

out Qf the town,^ tlie

engage

and to and from the

mineral-springs ex

ment in
hours.

mineral-springs.

cluded.

1 or 2 per

3 or 4 per^

1< or 2 per

3 or 4 per

sons.

sons.

sons.

sons.

n.

kr.

fl.

kr.

fl.

kr.

fl.

^r.

Vi

—

12

— -

18

— =

18

-^

27

V.

— ¦

24

-^—

3&

—

36

— ^.

54

%

—

36

—

48

'¦ —

54

1

12

1

' —

48

i

—

1

12

1

30

IV*

- — _

54

1

12'

1

21

1

48

IV.

—

1

24

1

30

2

06

1%

06

1

3ft

. 1

39

2

24

2

12
1
48
1
48
2
42
2V4
24
2
—
2
06
. 3
—
2%
30
2
12
; 2
15
3
¦ 18
2%
36
2
24
2
24
3
36
3
48
2r
36
2
32
3
¦54
For drives from the railway-terminus to the
town the fares are somewhat higher.
— 86 —
For i ot 2 peitsons- wdth tbe usuall log-
gagey aJS' porte^manteetn aud hatbox. 18 kr.
For 3» or 4 pierspns with the same Ing-
gagfr- •  24 „
For every tmmik j ..,.,. . 6,,
For more distant expeditions,, via: to Franc
fort, Friedberg, Hochst,, Soden, Gronberg etc.:
For 1 or 2 persons ,  fl, 3,
For 3 or 4 persons  „ 4.
If the drowsky is kept there three hours, the
charge above the fare is 30 kr., and if for a longer
timei 1 fl>'
Ci*rri'*ges io Nrtuheim may be had for 4
fls. This small price is made up by 5' fls'. given
to the cOdchman from' tA^ adiiiiitusti'atjon of the?
Nauheim gEEmtrtingp^tahlies-, when bringing^ passen
gers to Nauheim.
Carriages for common use may be had not
oitl^ irt hotels as: the^ Hotel de I'Europe, the Rose
etc. bu^ afeo at a good mshay other boases.
Rididg horses atre to be had at F. flexor's,
and the tetms are a!s follows:
Horses for ladies:! 10 lies, for every excursion.
Hotsies foP geittleihen: 2 fls. fof thO fiifst, 1 fl. for
evety following hour.
Donkeys are to be found at the ctWner of
the Kurgarten and the Promenade and are let al
nrodetate- prices.

III.
Tbe immediate envirans
of Homftuirg.

Tbe mineral-vftters.
It i$ ^ImOSJ^ c^^iai^ that t)}^p ini^nera^-'tVi^ters,
^'h^|i?h ^? pjeftfiwed fpr the; l^rst; tim^, in 1622,
were nojt, disfiover;e4 ift ^n ajjtificial way. J'rom
t|ii& appearafl(fe of Rjowi^iii aijitiquijji^a hfi the, ^leigh-r
hoi;rb,0o4 of the wells, \jv?i may inf^r that the latter
existed and were known in tjie, earliest 9ges,
Clo^ig by tb/B S,tahlbr^nen, at a (considerable 4epth,
^ driqKing cup wa^ fwi^dlj. adorned ijvith fine em-
]^^e4 ^orfunansbip, and uij4o,uibte41y of Roflian
(jHfigip. "V^fb^sn ip l^tO th^ npigbbonriug brool)^
wa^ partly tuynefj ftuj of \\^^ cou,rse ^nd a, iiew
bed y^^p, dug^^ there ^e^e fo,uin4 a great^ many re-
i^^ps, <^ potts, inf4^ of terra slgilttta, an4 singly
pieces £^rc fi}uft4 thfire eyen nQ\v. 4 V^t'? above
this part of the brook th^re were ftmn4 some years

— 88 —
ago some bricks with the stamp of the 22d. le
gion and large pieces of bricked floor. The mili
tary post, that was placed here, seems to have been
appointed to protect the wells, and the establish
ments connected with them. But it is to be re
marked that neither the old salt-spring, which is
no longer used now, nor the Elizabeth-spring,
which also had been known in former ages, show
any traces of ancient use, as the springs of Schwal
heim and of others places do. One of our coun
trymen stated lately in one of our papers, that
several small artificial hills, which were levelled
not long ago may perhaps have been thrown up
lor the purpose of protecting some spring or other
situated beneath them. This supposition seems to
deserve consideration, as it is certain, that other
wells, which existed much later in our neigh
bourhood, were covered during the time of war,^
and were afterwards either forgotten or could ne
ver be found again.
In a document of the year 817 there are men
tioned the villages Horaheim and Stedti with thefr
saltwells. The latter village, desfroyed more than
two hundred years ago, was situated S. W. of
Homburg, far away from the district of the present
springs. If, as we may suppose, the village of
Gonzenheim already existed at the time when this
document was written, these springs could not be
the present ones, but must have been springs which

— 89 -
issued at the S. W. side of the town, and may
have now been buried for many years.
The first ceartain mention of our medicinal
wells was made as late as 1622, Avhen Lewis V
of Hesse-Darmstadt, during an absence of Land
grave Frederick I of Homburg,, ordered the wells
to be enclosed again, and the saltworks, to be put
in repair. These works are said to have provided
tbe whole country with an excellent salt. The
works were destroyed during the 30 years war
and rebuilt in 1 660 by Landgrave William Christo
pher. The expences then were so great that four
years afterward* the works were stopped again.
They were however reopened by Landgrave Fre
derick n, two more salt-springs were discovered,
and several new trials made, but without any sa
tisfactory result. In 1735 the buiMings for gra
duation were sold to Nauheim, where they are still
standing. But in the mean time they seem to have had
in view another employment of our wells. In a
record of the year 1743 there is mentioned an
Austrian oificer who had been here to cure himself.
It is probable they then began to use the water
for baths. In 179^,, an order was given that the
Lower spring (the present ElisabethenbrUnnen)
should be examined hy a clever and impartial phy
sician, as it was believed that these wells would
be perhaps of great and universal utility,, But only

90

from the year 1811 the medical use of the wells
became general. In the second decennium ef this.
ceutnry they thouglit of Eaisibg Homburg; to the
rank of a watering place and in 1830 tbe flrM
grounds) round the. wells were laid' out au4 the
first bathing establishmenjtSi w^e built, — In 18^4
the Elifeabetii-spring was fiusit drunk iiioder ipedical
advice. — The lease viitii the brothers Blanc was
made in 1841, and siiure.thjs time the gi^ound^
around tlie wells haye uksdeiigone raany alteratiions
anid embellishments^ Tbje Kai<$erbrann/en,; the ^.t^jith
brunnen, the So^spvudel and Lijisenbruniien were
discovered by boeingsf in the me%n ti»«, the ield
saJt sprfaig was withdEawn from fairtj^ei; use.
The medicinal wells rise East of the town at
the distance of a few minutes walk in a meadow,
which' had been ornamentally laid Out and changed
into a garden. Pleasant walks lead to them from
all sides. The fiffsti point' on the way to the springs,
wortb: mentioning, is the open place surrounded
by lange limes and cbesnut-treesy which formerly
was used as a daaoteing place at th# festivals of
tbe old shooting-club. Before coming to that plac^
one sees on the left side of the road five stones,
on the central one of which ia carved a hare, scaf-'
cely recognizable, and the imperfect date 173 . > 9ue
northward, nearly 300 steps from it, in tho new

— 91 -
grounds in the midst of shrubs, stand five similar
stones,. They are a little monument of a mpst re^
maskable shot by which ,pne of tbe, LandgraveS;
kill^ a hare fromi this considerable distance. Sputb?
of this.iplace stands a mill, hidden by trees and
bushes, and N, of it are some buildings, which
were erected during, the borings for the SoolsprodeL
a. The ^oolsfprudel
issues in an open space , enclosed by , the above
mentioned buildings. The borings for hot wrater
at this place were begun in 1851, and after having
reached, a depth of 1782 feet — and aot obtained
the wished for re|ult they were discontinued in
18^. , After boring to a depth of about 600 feet
water vvas found with a peculiar development of
carbonic acid gas; and, when after the cessation
of tbe borings new pipes were let in, in order to
examine the contents) of this spring, and a pump
was applied to carry of the landsprings, a white
foanung bubbling water rose up to. a height of
ten feet and after a quarter of an hour sank down
again into the hPle. The same thing still happens
when the pressure of the landsprings is taken off
from the well at the abpvei mentione4 depth. The
rich saline water is chiefly used for baths, and is
for thisi purpose let^ipto a, large cistern lying just
behind the small Brunnensaal,, from whence it is
brought in large casks to the town.

— 92 —
b. The Stahlbrunnen
is situated next to the former. This source was
the result of artesian borings in 1841 and was
found at a depth of 206 feet. The spring, chiefly
distinguished by its handsome enclosure has got
its name from its dominant component of iron.
About six steps from the well and within the same
railing is a sweet water spring,
c. The Kaiserbrunnen
issues not far from the Stahlbrunnen, on the site
of an old saltwell., It was found by boring to a
depth of 380 feet, in 1841. In the first few years
after its discovery this spring Jjjad the remarkable
property of rising and falling at intervals of two
hours. The water first rose from its general level
in bubbles, like boiling water, with a great noise,
to the height of a few feet; then falling do^vn,
about 8 or 9 feet under its level, it continued ri
sing, till at the end of the second hour, it had
reached its original level, and then the same pheno-
menen occurred again. This peculiar periodical
bubbling had ceased a few years later, through
the bad condition of the tubes, and this circum
stance even threatened a disappearance of the
well. A new boring with the artesian screw took
place in 1855, and at a depth of 260 feet, there
was found a new well analogous to, and indeed
of almost identical properties with the old one.

— 93 —
d. The Ludwlgsbrunnen
lies northward of all the other springs, and is
surrounded by a double circle of lofty poplars
which attract attention from a great distance. The
original spring was discovered in 1809. Its water
was of a very pleasant taste and was drunk like
Sellers water pither pure, or mixed with sugar and
wine. In 1842 a sidespring broke through the
lining of the spring , and both the waters were
mixed, sp that in 1845 it was thought necessary
to begin a new boring in the midst of the well;
at a depth of 150 feet a new spring, the present
one, was found, and in honour of Landgrave Lewis
it was called: Ludwigsbrunnen. le. tlee buiseubrnnnen,
in the niid^t Of the gardeiis, laid out in 1860 on
the N, E, side of the avenue, leading from 'the
Kaiserbrunnen to the Elisabethenbrunnen, was found
by boring in 1856 at a deipth of 336 feet. This
well takes amongst the Homburg springs the se
cond rank, and is cHiefly drunk for the purpose
Of strengthening the blood.
f. The Elisabethenbrunnen „
is the most esteemed of the Homburg waters. Pro
fessor von Liebig calls it by far the richest well
of carbonic acid in Europe. It is the most dis
tant of all the springs, and rose naturally to the
surface. It was formerly called the , , Lower spring"

94

whose water was employed for extraction of
salt. Only in 1834' medical 'trials with fliis w^er
were begun; these having- met with great success,
people began the following year regulariy fo drink
the waters under phj'^ician's advice. The well
was enclosed in 1836, but this enclosure was de
stroyed in 1857, when the iw*€fll was covered in,
^and a covered walk „Tririk'hafHe'' was made leading
'to the hothouse. In the mean time there had
been remarked a considerable diminution of "the
w^ater and of its 'minerad Components, The reason
Of this was proved by many tridls to be a defect
in the masoni^y enclosing the wdl. This therefore
was renewed during the years ^1859 and 1660,
and thus the ingredients j-egained thefr former ef-
fficaoy. At »tbe same time the iron building wover
ithe well was fiemoved.
The aiKilysis Of the wells is 'the ifollowing:
Constituents of Sixteen Ounces of Water.
£liaabeth- Kaistr- Ludwigs- Slahl- [.aisen-
Bruunen. Briuiucn. Jlruunen. Bruunea. Brunneu.
Liebig. Liebig. „ Fresen.
Muriate of Soda .... gr«. 79,1548 117,00481 S4,461 79,864 23,82958
„ Magnesia. . . . 7,7919 7,86432 6.002 5,229 0,64512
Lime  . 7>7398 13,22480 9,506 10,667 —
Caibpaale of Lime  10,9905 11,10528 9.796 7,534 5,14202
'„ iUdgMsia . .,;, 1 2,0136 — 0,046 — iq,9aa3t
„ Iron  0,4623 0,80640 0,390 0,936 0,33939
iSulflhate of Sods  0,3813 — — — —
Silpx  0,3150 0,33792 0.123 0,314 0,15437
Carb. Arid 6as, «ub. in. . . 48,84 65,00 22,50 32,00 32;09
'Between the J^udwigsbrunnen and Kaiserbrun
nen is 'an ippen ¦spaecj partly 'planted with plane-

— 95 —
trees. On 'this place stands a bath-house for
"gaS'^baths, erected in 1'859, Close by this is a
range of stalls, in wihich during the summer^
feeason are e^^ahibited for^sale: Bohemian -ci^stals,
pWelleriCS''^ travOlling requisites, etc. Adjoining
this is the „Brunnen8aal", a smaltl t>uilding con-
"taitiing^ a saloon and several sinall rooms. Before
the 'erection of the Kurhaus this building was used
as a-conversation-room for the foreigners frequen
ting the waters, and frequently, balls and concerts
•Were held there. It now contains the dwelling
of the engflieer who 'ins^eets the wells. From
the 'Kaiserbrunnen an avenue of 6 rows of trees
leads in a 'S.tE.' direction down to the Elisabethen
brunnen. Th*e Trinkhalle was built after the plan of
•the Francfort architect Ludwig in the years 1857
to 18S9. It is 260 feet in length and 24 in breadth.
T'he hothouse, adjoining the ; former at the
N. end is 200 feet in length and 50 feet -in
breadth. The house is heated by; hot-water pipes.
Thfe 'northern wing contains native-, the opposite
'Wing 'CSPtic plants.
' ' On the righ thand side of the Elisabetfienbrun-
'iien stands the music pavillion in which the
band of'the Kurhaus plays evepy morning during
'the season. In the background stands the green
house vt*bich in winter contains* the orange-frees
ahdother^lants; in sttnhner whoy is fgiwen here

96

to invalids using the wljey-cure. In the same
building are also the apartments of the inspector
of the gardens. The buildings opposite are used
as repositories for bottling and storing the water.
The greenhouse is surrounded by Tery pretty
flowerbeds and shrubberies.
Having described the medical wells of Hom
burg in their former and present state , w^e must
now give some informations about their eflect, and
the mode of using them.
Concerning their components the reader will
observe, when 'referring to the above given table,
that they are orily distinguished by the greater or
less predominance of particular components.
This difference is of course also perceptible
in their effiect, and these waters, used under medi
cal advice, are a treasure scarcely to be too hightly
appreciated. Professor von Liebig said — a good
many years ago: „It will be very difficult to find in
Germany a mineral-water which offers the same riches
in medical components as the Homburg waters".
As to the medical use of the wells, we refer
to the manuals for using the waters, written by
experienced practical physicians, which raay give
some information even to the uon-proffiessional.
Nevertheless it is advisable to apply to a spa-
physician for the choice of the well, its application
and the mode of living, when taking the cure, —
We will only mention here that the Homburg mi-

— 97 —
neral-waters , taken internally, as well as exter
nally, by their dissolving and exciting eflects in
vigorate the whole organisation, and consequently
stimulate all the springs of life. This sanative
power is particularly eflective in the following di
seases: Bad digestion, costiveness, hemorrhoids.,
hypochondriasis, gout, jaundice, chronic eye-
diseases and diseases of the skin, the stone etc.;
also in many kinds of nervous disorders, nervous
head ache, neuralgia, cramps etc. The Luisen-
queile by its predominant contents of iron, is a
powerful agent for the formation of blood, it is
used against chlorosis and other diseases, produ
ced by scarcity of blood.
The most favourable time for the u,se ofthe
medical springs is thought to be from June till
the end of .August, yet in many diseases an ear
lier or later time is to be preferred.
The cure is applied in the following mode:
Very early in the morning, before taking break
fast, and in some cases also in the evening, the
patient walks to the wells and drinks the water
in the way prescribed by his physician. The water
is poured out by girls, who are paid by voluntary
gifts of the patients, when ending their cure. —
The visit to the springs in a summer-morning is
pleasant even for those not drinking the watera^
when the Kurhaus-band is playing, which they do.
every day from 6V2 to 8 o'clock during the sea-
7

— 98 —
son, and the pleasure-grunds and avenues are re
ally crowded. Patients who ' are unable to go to
the springs may send for the water in botties.
For this purpose they have to provide themselves
with a written certificate from their physician,
which is to be countersigned by the Kurhaus-ad-
ministration and is to be presented at the wells to
the servant who is enfrusted with filling the bottles.
The exportation of the water. The water
is carefiilly poured into bottles or pitchers, which
are corked, and then further secured with pitch
and sealed. Thus secured, the water preserves its
freshness and efficacy for a long time. The
bottle bears as a mark the Homburg lion with the
name of the spring from which the water is taken,
and the inscription: „Homburg. Landgraftb. Hessen."
A bottle filled in this way and containing about
two pints, costs at the place itself 9 kr. Orders
are to be given to the adminisfration of the mine
ral wells at the bureau of tbe Kurhaus. About
400,000 bottles are annually exported.
The water for baths is generally taken from
t he Kaiserbrunnen, Ludwigsbrunnen and Soolsprudel.
Fresh water baths, or other specially prepared
baths, frequently prescribed by the physicians, may
also be had. The bathing establishments and the
building arranged fon gas baths, situated between
the Ludwigsbrunnen and Kaiserbrunnen, we have
already mentioned above.

— 99 —
Whey is sold fresh and warm every morning
during the season for 6 kr, a glass. It is prepa-
. red from goats milk by Swiss shepherds. The
best time for the cure is considered to be the
spring, when the goats feed upon young herbs
and grass, which give the best taste to tbe milk.

The Hardwood and its environs.
The Hard consists of a small chain of hills
which bound the Kurgarten towards N. E. and
belongs to the three parishes: Kirdorf, Oberesch-
bach and Gonzenheim, The shady wood is cros
sed by many roads and paths, and providied with
seats or rustic huts, at the places commanding a
fine view or offering a pleasant cool shade, and is
frequently visited by the inhabitants of Homburg.
The Waldlust, an hotel, stands at the middle
way which leads te the wood, just at the entrance,
and facing the new Kursaal-grounds. From its
saloon and from the diflierent front-rooms the visi
tor has a pretty view of the gardens and the town.
Close behind the Waldlust is tbe shooting-
ground of the Homburg shooting-club. To people,
wishing to practice shooting with rifles or pistols,
a permission is given, when applying to the gu
ard of the club, who lives there; but people can
only do it under his immediate superinteridance.

— 100 —
Walking from the Waldlust to the left hand
side, along the bank of the brook, one comes to
a hut, erected by a Swiss gentleman and from him
bearing the name Byhinershiitte. This gentleman
has erected in the Hard at his own expenee, not
only this one, but also a good many other huts
and a great quantity of seats. - A pleasant walk
along the edge of the wood leads there, and the
spot itself affords a very pretty view of the town.
Following the path from the Waldlust to the
right along the bank of the brook one comes to
several charmingly situated villas, surrounded by
very tastefully laid out grounds, which were erected
in 1861. The same way continuing one comes to
the Wingertsberg, The Wingertsberg or Nacktberg has received
the former name from being planted some ages ago
with vines (wingert-vineyard). The hill rises
abruptly above the meadows north of the mineral
springs. That part of the hill which descends from
the edge of the wood, is private property. A farm
stands at the foot of the hill, and on its summit
stands a country house, erected in 18G0 and 1861:
adjoining it are a hot-house and a cottage, in
habited by the gardener. The whole is surroun
ded by gardens. From the top of the hill one
Onjoys a Tfcry pretty view of the grounds of the
.iC^haus, and the country about fbe rivers Nidda
%nd Main,

— 101 —
Following the edge of the wood, on the S,
E. side of the Wingertsberg, one comes to the
Philosophensitz (philosopher's-seat). This place is
high and open, and offers a pretty view over the
Nidda- and Main-country and the southern part
of the Wetterau, — A few steps begand the hut
are three druid tombs lying in the wood which
have not yet been opened. This path runs along
the edge of the wood into the mainroad from
Homburg to Seulberg at the Seulberg shooting
ground. Following the road frora the Waldlust straight
into the wood, one comes first to the plaCe, called:
„The three hillocks." These are a group of
druid-tombs, lying on both sides of the road, with
a hut and a bench, standing on one Of them.
Further on the Seulberg road, one meets on the
left side of the road, about 1000 yards beyond
this place with another druid-tomb, also with a
bench on its top. From this place the road des
cends gently until one leaves the forest at the
Seulberg shooting gronnd.
The Gustavus-monument stands, in the
middle of this shooting ground, and bears the in
scription which also explains its object. ,,In com
memoration of the consecration of the flag on the 3d
Sept, 1848; and recording our devotion and gra
titude to his Serene Highness the Sovereign Land
grave Gustavus of Hesse etc, now resting in God,^'

— 102 —
Every year a very well frequented shooting match
takes place on these grounds.
The N. part of the Hard is crossed by a road
that leaves the town near the „Brewery of the
town of Friedberg" and leads sfraight on to Fried-
richsdorf, which is situated at the other side of
the Hard. The flnest points in this direction are:
the Hollstein and the Rabenstein, both lying at the
left hand side of this road at the edge of tbe wood.
On the way to Friedrichsdorf, whicb we have
mentioned just now, yet before arriving at the Hard
— to the left and walking between the meadows
and the slopes, which come down from the woods,
one arrives at the Hollstein, a rock, hidden by
bushes , from which a mysterious rampart-like
earthwall mounts up the hill. From its highest
point one has a pretty view towards the town.
Still prettier is the view, 150 yards further north
ward at the highest of these hills, where by the
side of a small rock stands a crippled wall-nut
tree with two trunks.
The Rabenstein, also called Wilhehnstein or
Niobefels, lies northward of the former. This rock
may be called the finest point in the immediate
neighbourhood of Homburg, On the summit of a
small hill covered with bushes , rise some defied
rocks, easy to be climbed, which aflord a very
pretty view of Homburg and the village of Kirdorf,
with its handsome church; beyond, the prospect

— 103 —
extends over meadows and fields to the distant moun
tains. On both sides rise hills on which grow
many plants which are very rare in the country.

Kirdorf,
At a distance of about 15 Minutes N. of Hom-^
burg lies Kirdorf, some of its houses extend even
to the boundaries of the town. From the Hohe
strasse, the highroad irons straight through it.
The place does not appear, as far as we
know, in ancient records, and is Only mentioned
as Kirdorph after the 14th century. It belonged
to tbe electorate of Mayence, but seems to have
even been then allotted to the judicial court of
Homburg, The family of „Brendel", as we men
tioned above, had a castle there, which stood on
the right bank of the brook flowing through the
village. That castle and the whole village , with
the exception of three houses, are said to have
been burned down in the 30 years war, Land-
gi-ave Frederick Lewis acquired it in 18Q4 in ex
change for two other small villages,
Kirdorf is rather a large place. The number
of souls in 1861 amounted to above 1500. They
live chiefly from what they gain in Homburg. For
merly belonging to Mayence they are all Roman
Catholicks^,

— 104 —
The new church, built between 1859 and
1861, in a splendid style, has a sfriking appearance,
when seen from some distance.
Inns: Braun's inn, with a pretty garden, V,
Hett's and others.

Grounds and gardens towards the monntains.
A long and wide poplar avenue leads from
the garden of the castle to the large fir-wood; and
thence a straight way through the forest mounts
to the top of the Rothenberg, 1762 feet above the
level of the sea. This road is called „Elisa-
bethenschneisse", and seen from the beginning
of the avenue, from its straight direction it looks
like a great ladder leaning against the mountains.
The English garden, at the right hand of
the entrance of the avenue, was laid out by the
Landgravine Elizabeth. This garden is open every
day, except Sunday. It contains a hothouse, well
stocked with plants, amongst which are many
exotics. The garden is distinguished by its nice
flowerbeds and the abundance of roses; and its
long shady walks, bowers and huts make it a very
pleasant haunt.
A little begond the English garden issues, or
rather issued, the Pfingstbrunnen (Whitsuntide-
spring), formerly a clear, fresh spring, which has

— 105 —
since disappeared. Many places near. the Taunus
have a Pfingstbrunnen, which, according to an old
custom were frequently visited at Whitsuntide,
when the sober citizens and their families, regaled
themselves with cake and spring water, and passed
the day in country sports.
The Gustavus'-garden on the left side of
the poplar avenue is only allowed to be visited
with the gardener. The garden contains a little
summer house in the middle of bushes and groups
of trees. On the opposite side of the avenue is a close
plantation of firs through which winds a nice
shady walk.
The little fir-wood, also called the Meierei,
is situated S. W, of the Gustavus'-garden, The
carriage road to it turns off from the avenue at
the end of the latter garden. The footpath to it
leaves the avenue not far from the castle garden.
The grounds of this place are the prettiest in the
neighbourhood of Homburg, particularly from their
variety. From the main entrance a wide and dark
alley of chesnuts, bordered on both ^ides by
flowerbeds leads to a pond of tolerable size, with
an island in its centre. Either by the walk on
the left or by that arched over with beeches on
the right bank of the pond one comes to the op
posite side. Here a bridge leads to this, island,
where, half hidden by bushes and trees, rises a

— 106 —
little temple of trellis work, overhung by a large
weeping willow. The south-western parts of this
garden are chiefly occupied by flowerbeds, green
sward and walks. In the south part of the garden
is a farmhouse for the household of the Landgrave,
and close by it is the dairy house of Landgravine
Elizabeth. Tbe state of the rooms is still the same,
as when occupied by her Royal Highness. The
dairy is particularly worth seeing; it is fitted up
with precious utensils, and figures of real china.
The farm is frequently visited by foreigners and
natives in order to drink here in the open air
curdled or fresh milk, coffee, tea or chocolate etc.
From this part of the garden one enjoys a beau
tiful view of the town and of the castle.
The Alley-house is situated nearly halfway
up the poplar avenue. It is an inn with a very
nice saloon and pretty gardens around the house.
The Philip's-garden forms the corner of
the poplar-avenue and of a road running across
it from Stedten to Domholzhausen, The garden
has nearly always been kept shut during the last
few years.

The large fir-wood.
The large firs which formerly decorated this
part of -the wood were about 20 years ago nearly
all torn down by a hurricanev Only now and

— 107 —
then one of the giants of the woods rises above
the younger generations, which, planted in lines,
surround it. The wood is crossed by the Elisa-
bethenschneisse , the continuation of the poplar-
avenue; other well kept waj's lead to different
points and seats.
The hunting castle, a gothic building, is
situated at the beginning of the poplar-avenue.
The building was begun under the reign of Land
grave Frederick Joseph, but the interior never com
pleted. Some of the rooms are occupied by a fo
rester and his family, who are often visited by
strangers and natives in order to get there refresh
ments or to find shelter. It is also a frequent re
sort for picnics and private parties.
The DenksSule (monument), standfs in the
middle of a small open space on the right hand
side of the Elisabethenscbneisse. The inscription
explaining its object is as follows: „To his Serene
Highness the Landgrave Frederick Lewis of Hesse
Homburg, January 30th 1816 at the beginnings of
the 69th year of his life and 51st of his reign, by
his faithful subjects." «?
Turning just in front of the hunting castle
to the left, to the S. W. part of the fir-wood, one
arrives at the „seven ponds," Joined by canals
they lie one higher than the other in midst of the
forest. The three upper ones however are dry.
From the first or lowest pond extends a fine lawn,

— 108 —
called the Festplatz (festival place) from the rural
parties of the court that formerly took place here.
At the S. side of this spot rises a small hillock
from which people have a beautiful view over the
open country.
The more extended eastern part of the fir-
wood bears the particular name „BusCh (bush)"
or „Brendelsbush", so called after the former
possessors. Here on the borders of the wood is
a pond, called: „the Forellenteich" (frout-pond),
and adjoining it, the Walkmiihle, A little higher
up in the Busch, but somewhat to the W,, lies
the ,,new pond", close to the Forstgarten and
the Elisabethenscbneisse, People may return home from this, through
the neighbouring .village of Domholzhausen.
We have now gone through what is properly
called the large fir-wood, but on account of their
contiguity we will just mention three places, which
we intend to describe later, amongst the nearer spots,
worthy to be remarked in the mountains, they are:
the Forstgarten, the Thierpark and the TempeL

Oberstedten.

Leaving the poplar-avenue, either at the left
hand side by the white bridge, or higher up at
the Philip's-garden, one reaches Oberstedten, a

— 109 —
village lying at a distance of a good Engl, mile
from Homburg.
It is doubtful whether this placc is identical
with that Stedti, mentioned with Ursella in a re
cord of 781, or whether it was Mittelstedten, which
stood between Oberursel, Oberstedten and Nieder
stedten, a village formerly situated close by Hom
burg, but long since destroyed. One Dietrich of
Stedten, a joint occupant of Eppstein, who is
mentioned in a record of 1192, is asserted to have
been of Oberstedten. According to later records,
the Brendels of Homburg received the village and
jurisdiction of Oberstedten as a fief from the various
possessors of Homburg, who were for a long time
the lords of Eppstein. Nevertheless although the
name of the place affords a presumption of high
antiquity, Oberstedten seems never to have been
an important place, since it formed even as late
as the last century a part of the parish of Homburg.
Oberstedten contains above 900 inhabitants,
all of the Lutheran faith. They mostly gain their
livelihood by hard labour in the forest. — The
place offers nothing else worthy of remark.

Dornholzhaosen,

The highroad, which beginning at the Unter
thor first runs between the two churchyards and
then through gardens, cornfields and meadows,

110

leads after a good quarter of an hours walk to
the pretty village of Domholzhausen. A still
prettier path leads from the „neue Weg", close by
the Hohestrasse, along the brook through the mead
ows. Both ways offer a beautiful view of the
chain of the Taunus,
One Domholzhausen is often mentioned in re
cords of the later middle ages, it was however de
stroyed before the 30 years war. The present
Domholzhausen was only built in 1699 by a co
lony of Waldenses , who were received by Land
grave Frederick II, Above 30 families of Waldenses
then settled on the „Reisberg" where' they recei
ved 200 acres of land as a free gift of the Land
grave. The first clergyman of the parish was Da
vid Jourdans in the year 1699, The Uttle church
of the place was completed in 1755.
Domholzhausen consists of a single street and
a few scattered houses. There are 300 inhabitants,
a part of whom still speak French as well as
German. Having very much mingled with the
Germans in business and social life they have be
come altogether German in their habits of life.
The resident phj'sician Dr. Schmidt has a
widely extended reputation. The restaurant of
Fr. Sfheller at the entrance of the village is most
visited both by strangers and natives. The garden
^ith its shady planetrees affords a pleasant spot

— Ill —
for dining in summer. Every year in the months
of July or August there is a much frequented shoot
ing match here.

Friedrichsdorf.

A short hours walk N. of Homburg lies Fried
richsdorf. The prettiest road to it is that through
the Hard, already described page 100. Carriages
generally take the way through Kirdorf. The
road rises considerably, just beyond this place, and
where it attains its highest point, there is a beau
tiful view both to the W. and S. A few steps
farther on the right hand side of the way there
are in the wood 7 druid tombs, still unopened.
Friedrichsdorf was built between 1680 and
1690. When in 1686 after the revocation of the
edict of Nantes, both the French Huguenots, and
the Waldenses settled in the Piemontese valleys,
were compelled to fly their homes. Landgrave
Frederick U offered them, through a letter of in
vitation an asylum in his country. Co^equently
25 Waldensian families and also some French from
Picardy, Dauphine and Champagne arrived here.
By degrees the French became far the most nu
merous, from further immigrations, and on account
of the Waldenses having made other settlements.
250 acres of land were presented to the emigrants

112

by the Landgrave, on which they founded Fried
richsdorf, so named after him. In the year 1717
they first had a regular clergyman, called J. P.
Burkhard. In 1771 the place obtained the rights
of a town, and in 1828 its arms were appointed:
nine white roses on a blue field.
Its church was begun in 1834 and was fini
shed and consecrated 1837; divine service is held
in the French language.
The place consists almost entirely of one long
sfreet, with a great rise and fall throughout. The
inhabitants are about 1000. The French language
is habitually used in conversation. They occupy
themselves chiefly with the preparation of flannel and
plush, knitting worsted, cotton print etc. There
are besides several tobacco and cigar manufactories
also one for vermicelli, one for hats and another
for leather. Professor Garnier's long established board
ing school has a widely extended reputation.
There are above 100 pupils of all nations. — The
ladies- school of Mrs. Zimmer, formerly of Miss
Miiller, also has great success. In both the schools
the French language forms the chief subject of
instruction. The inns arc: Weisse Thurm, at the exfreme
end of the place, containing spacious rooms , and
having a pretty garden, where every year in the
month of August the Friedi'ichsdorf shooting-match

— 113 —
is held, which formerly was the principal popular
festival in the whole country; there are besides
the Lowen and other inns.
In a earJen on the S, E. side of the village.
old foundation-walls were discovered by exca
vations. They belonged to buildings , which for
merly stood here and are marked in old maps as
the „Brendelsburg." This castle lay close to
the village of Dillingen, which is often mentioned
in ancient' records, but now no longer exists.
The new Dillingen lies a quarter of an hours
walk N, W. of Friedrichsdorf It was built hi
1804 by emigrants from the Vogelsberg mountains.
The place belongs to the parish of Koppem, but
divine service is held in a house built for this
purpose in 1859. The number of inhabitants is 200.
N, W. of Friedrichsdorf, at a distance of hardly
5 minutes is situated the ,,Schnepfenburg." In
the midst of falling ground is a small artificial
elevation, level at the top, about 1 0 feet in height,
and surrounded with remains of a rampart. The
circumferance of the „Burg" measures at the height
ofthe wall about 200 feet, the diaraeter from 50
to 65 feet. The whole is surrounded by a deep
ditch , which is double on the S. W, side. Re
mains of walls and cellarlike vaults are said to
have still existed 50 years ago. As the place
appears littie adapted for military purposes, it can
only have stood here formerly as a larger hunting-

— 114 —
castle, if we do not suppose, that it has been, as
many maintain, and as is intimated in different
old traditions, a sacrificial place of the old Germans.
A mile and a half beyond Friedrichsdorf, also
on the highroad between Homburg and Friedberg,
lies Koppern. We shall come to this place again
when we come to the valley which bears its name.

Seulberg,

Seulberg lies nearly two English miles N. E.
of Homburg. The chief road to it goes through
the Hai-d. The village seems to be the oldest place in
the bailiwick of Homburg. As early as the year
849 , Hatto the count in Kiinigesundra gave two
estates with all their appurtenances at Sulenburc
to the convent of Bleidenstadt, and in 947 „Sul-
burc" was given by the Emperor Otto 1 in an ex
change to the abbey of Hersfeld. — Later the
place appears under the name of „Saulburg." —
Seulberg gave its name to a march, the Waldbote
or ranger of which was, as before mentioned, the
rightful possessor of Homburg. Seulberg may
even claim the name of a town, for it was for
merly fortified. Remains of a trench are still to
be seen, and old people still recollect parts of the
walls surrounding it. and two gates with towers.

— 115 —
The stone which was formerly over one of these
gates, bearing the Eppstein arms, is now built
into the bridge of the place. — There is yet to
be remarked that the first Lutheran clergyman in
the bailiwick of Homburg in 1589, was a resident
of Seulberg. Seulberg has about 800 inhabitants. In ear
lier times they were chiefly occupied in pottery,
which had a widely extended sale.
In the fields N, of Seulberg lies a piece of
ground, called „Huhnburg." Here on a slight
eminence was a Roman station, probably a fortified
camp. The plough meets with foundation-walls of
buildings, which stood here, and remains of vessels,
coatings ofthe walls, pipes, tiles and stones lie
about in the field. An imperfect stamp found here
bore the number VII (perfect VIII), denoting the
former presence of the Vlllth legion,
From Seulberg a fieldpath leads to Holz-
hausen which is one English mile distant. A
highroad leads there from Friedrichsdorf, Holz-
hausen was formerly a possession of Eppstein,
and was included in the parish of SeUlberg. In
later times it came to the Electorate of Mayence
and in the latter end of the 17th century ta
Ihgelheim. The family of the Lords of Holzhausen, who
for a long time have lived at Francfort, originally
dwelt here, probably on the Al ten burg. This

— 116 —
is now a hill, N. W. of the village, which is sur
rounded on three sides by a broad and deep ditch,
but on the fourth side falls with a steep descent
to the Oppern brook. It is to be remarked that
bricks and pipes were found here, certainly of
Roman origin. One fragment bears the number
XIIH and may denote the XlVth legion. The old
Roman road, called „the Weinsfrasse" , which led
from Mayence to the Wetterau passes close by the
Altenburg, From Holzhausen it is half an hour's walk
to Rodheim. This place existed as early as the
9th century. One half belonged in the middle ages
to the Lords of Miinzenbeig and afterwards to
the counts of Hanau, the other part to Falkenstein,
Eppstein and then to Stolberg. In 1806 the place
fell to Hesse Darmstadt.
Peterweil lies an English mile S. E. of Holz
hausen. The place appears in 825 as villa Pefrina,
later as Phefrevilla. Having become pari of Hesse
Darmstadt, one half of the plape was ceded in 1768
to the Landgrave of Hesse Homburg; later however
the whole was restored to Hesse Darmstadt. The
Burg (fort) lying on the N, side of the place is
built on the ruins of ancient buildings. The church
is so old that it required reparation in 1585,

117

Gonzenheim,

S. E. of Homburg, only one English mile dis
tant, lies Gonzenheim, The highroad from the
Luisenstrasse and the footpath from the Promenade
lead there.
According to old tradition the place is said
to have been much larger, and that a castle of the
Brendel family stood on the site of the present
parsonage, Gonzenheim contains about 400 inha
bitants. South of the village there is a place in
the middle of the fields, called: „Steinkritz", where
there was apparently a considerable Roman station.
Reraains of vessels and tiles lie scattered about in
the fields; The Roman „Weinstrasse" passes close
by it. Bricks found there bear the stam|) of the
XII legion. The village of Obereschbach lies only a few
hundred yards from Gonzenheim and belongs to
the territory of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Obererlenbach is situated at a distance of
two Engl, miles from Homburg and may be reached
either by the highroad from Obereschbach or by a
footpath which leads froip the Ludwigsbrunnen
over a bridge at the right hand side of the Win
gertsberg and then runs eastward. The place be
longs to Hesse-Darmstadt.

— 118 —

Bommersheim.

This village, belonging to the Duchy of Nassau,
lies about two Engl, miles S. W. of Homburg. —
Some pretend that the place appeared in records
as early as 947,
Close to the village, on the East side, stood
the castle of Bommersheim. It was a Ganerben-
house, (an estate held in joint-occupancy by a
body of knights) and besides the knights of the
same name, members of other families had a share
in it. The possessors, after the degeneration of
the nobility, lived chiefly by robbery, for which
reason the castle was taken and destroyed by the
men of Francfort and Mayence and their allies in
137(), — The first knight of Bommersheim appears
in 1256, and the family became extinct early in
the 17th century.

Oberursel.

At a distance of 2 Engl, miles from Homburg
is situated the little Nassau town of Oberursel,
which may be reached in 8 minutes by the Hom
burg railroad, Tbe highroad which leads there
goes round the castie-garden, or down by the
Neumiihle. and a shorter footpath leaves the road
imraediately beyond the Neumiihle.

— 119 —
The little town is mentioned in 781 as Ursella
and in 831 as Ursela. The place undoubtedly
takes its name from the Urselbrook which runs
through it.
Oberursel was the property of the Lords of
Eppstein. After the extinction of the two Eppstein
lines in 1535 it fell to the counts of Stolbers.
These were deprived of it by the Electorate of
Mayence in 1574, but it was restored to them by
Gustavus Adolphus, However in 1635 the little
town was taken again by the Electorate of Mayence
and was given to Nassau in 1803, This change
of Lords had also an influence on the religion of
the place. The Lutheran doctrines took root here
as early as 1520, but were suppressed again at
the beginning of the 17th century. In 1633 it
was introduced again, but only for a short time,
A protestant congregation has been but recently
estabhshed here. During the 30 years war Ober
ursel was stormed not less than six times and
was several times plundered and partly demol
ished. — Printing-presses were early established
in Oberursel; according to an account ^ (scarcely
probable) as early as 1462, certainly however in
the latter part of the 16th century. Numerous
works, very rare now, were printed there. The
well known poet and zealous Lutheran, Erasmus
Alber, (born 1500, died 1553) lived long in Ober
ursel, where he founded and conducted a Latin

120

school , and in his ,,Book of virtue and wisdom"
gives with evident partiality a description of the
town and its neighbourhood.
At the N. W. end of the town is situated the
Burggarten (castie-garden) of the former castle
Dornstein, This was probably the seat of the
knightly family of Ursele or Orsele, which appears
in records from the 13th to the 15th century.
Also a ro} al castle (Saia) must have existed here,
as indicated by the name of a street: „the Saalgasse."
The most remarkable object in the little place
is the principal church in the upper part of the
town, which rises high above the surrounding
buildings. It is in the Gothic style, and is one of
the prettiest architectural monuments of the neigh
bourhood. It was built in the 2d half of the 15th
century, probably on the foundations of an older
church. The dates Of 1479, 1480 and 1481 are
carved on the sandstones of the soclewalls of the
S. side of the church. Its slender spire, which is
seen from far and wide repays one for ascending
it with a beautiful view. The great bell ,,Maria
Crafft", celebrated for its pure, full tone is well
worth visiting. It was cast in 1508 and w^eighs
84 hundred weight. The interior of the church
has been disfigured by tasteless renovations. A
baptismal font in sandstone stands before the
church. Judging from the material and the carving,
il is probably of the same age as the church. —

121

Besides this there are also the „Hospital church",
very seldom used, and the pretty little chapel, built
by the protestant congregation,
Oberursel is a very industrious little town.
Besides the workmen in metal, the turners have
latterly greatly increased , both in nuraber and in
skill. The Urselbach which flows through the
place is of great service as waterpower. The
spinning-manufactory „an der hohen Mark" is of
great importance; it employs 24,000 spindles. An
other important spinning-manufactory is that of
Mr, Klotz. Inns: the Schutzenhof, the Baren, the Frank
furter Hof etc.
The immediate environs of the little town are
very picturesque. N. W. of the town are different
plantations of Spanish chesnut-trees, where the
annual popular festivals of chorus-singers are held.
A little beyond this place are the ,,Custine's
Schanzen" (Custine's trenches), which were
thrown up in 1792 by the French revolutionary-
army, which then invaded Germany.

IV.
The more distant environs

of Hoinburs

The Taunus.
Middle Germany was, according to the most
ancient accounts handed down to us by Roman
and Greek writers, overspread in old tiraes by
dark forests, which were called by the Romans
Hercynius sdltus and by the Greeks Orcynia silva,
A part of this wood formed the mons Taunus,
often mentioned by those writers as ihe most im
portant of the raountains of Germany, with which
they were more particularly acquainted . and as
the central point of the wars which raged bet
ween the Roman nation and the German fribes.
It has been undeniably proved by later investiga
tions that this term comprised our mountains.
The W. part of the mountains was called
Hairich or Hainrich and is now called ..Hohe";
from this the name ..Homburg vor der Hohe,"

123

The woods of the Taunus were from the ear
liest times divided into marches or divisions of
communal woods. The ,,hohe Mark" was the raost
considerable; it contained 26,161 acres, lay bet
ween Homburg, Oberursel and Reifenberg, and
originally belonged to 32 villages and estates, si
tuated on the right bank of the Nidda, There are
still to be found two of the boundary-stones of
this march in the neighbourhood of Homburg; one
the „Gluckenstein", on the way from the Hohe
strasse to Domholzhausen, the other on the poplar-
avenue beyond the Philip-garden. — The chief-
ranger of this march was the rightful possessor
of Homburg (p. 20). These Lords had the superin-
ten dance of the wood, the first right of chase and
the right to cut wood for their household. Every
year, according to old custom, a manorial court
was held on the fields of Oberursel, and 8 days
later the court, called „Rugengericht", at Homburg,
The oldest records concerning the hohe Mark are
of 1401 and 1484, — The march was divided into
different allotments in 1813, The Seulberg-march
belonged to Seulberg and 6 neighbouring places;
the Pfahlgraben formed its N. W, boui^ary, and
the court of the march was held in the field bet
ween Seulberg and Obererlenbach. The lordship
of this march appertained also to the possession
of Horaburg, A record has been preserved of the
year 1493, This inarch was divided into allotments

124

in 1804, Other marches in our neighbourhood
were those of Kronberg, Sulzbach, Wehrheira etc.
The Hard near Homburg, as we have raentioned
above, was also a march-wood.
We have already described the natural history
of the Taunus, we need therefore only add here
a few particular features of Ihe country.
The Taunus forras a double chain of moun
tains between the rivers Main and Lahn, of about
50 Engl, miles in length, and is in realitj' the con
tinuation of the Hundsriick raountains, merely in
terrupted by the stream of the Rhine, Its western
part which contains the greatest elevations, as the
Feldberg, Liitzelfeldberg and Altkonig, a tract of
12 to 15 miles in circumference, is in a more resfric-
ted sence called Main taunus.
The Taunus is the highest of any of the chains
of mountains in Middle-Gernsany. The loftiest
points are the Feldberg (2721 Paris feet), the
Liitzelfeldberg (2482 P, f.) the Altkonig (2449 P, f.)
Its finest valleys are: „the Lorsbacher Thai, the
Weilthal"; in our immediate neighbourhood: „the
Usathal, the Kopperner Thai, the Finsternthal and
the valleys of the Usa and the Eschbach brooks."
After this sketch of the mountnins we intend
to describe the particular points and shall begin
with those nearest to Homburg.

125

Follovdng the large poplar-avenue and the
Elisabethenscbneisse, which forms the continuation
of it, we pass through the large fir-wood to the
Forstgarten, The Forstgarten (botanical garden), on the
right hand side of the Elisabethenscbneisse, is easily
recognized by the fir-pailing surrounding it. The
chief entrance is from a sideroad. The garden is
laid out in pretty walks: in the middle is a pond,
fed by a rivulet; benches and summerhouses are
erected at the prettiest spots. This place deserves
attention, both as a nursery-garden of forest-trees,
and as containing specimens of all the trees and
shrubs growing in Germany. The names of the
plants are generally marked.
The Thiergarten (deerpark), adjoining the
former and running likewise along the Elisabethen
scbneisse is well stocked with fallow-deer, some
of which are quite tame , so that they can be fed
by the hand. Entrance may be obtained by ap
plying to the woman who has the care of the
deer; she is to be found either in the park, or in
the ,.gothisf he Haus." A cottage was built in
1859 for the conveniance of the visitors.
The Tempel is situated S. W. of the large
fir-wood, V4 of an hour's walk frora the hunting
castie. It is reached by a carriage-road, which
runs into a poplar-alley, leaving the Elisabethen
scbneisse at the end of the large fir-wood, just

— 126 —
before airivingat the Forstgarten, This alley leads
into a dark fir-plantation, and the first way to
the right brings us to an open place with a small
temple like building on its W. side. The open
space is surrounded by old oaks, from which the
place is also called: „at the seven oaks" or ,,the
seven electors," This spot- is much visited by
picknick parties.
The Elisabethenstein rises in the Elisa
bethenscbneisse, V4 of an hour's walk will be
sufficient to reach it. It is a group of cleft rocks
with a little plattform on the top from which people
have a fine distant view.
Following the road which runs in a N. E.
direction from the Elisabethenstein, and then the
first footpath to the right a few hundred yards
into the wood, one reaches a clearing , called:
„sch6ne Aussicht" (belle vue).
The Leopoldstein is about 10 minutes far
ther, on the left side of the Elisabethenscbneisse.
It is a stone urn under an old oak, erected in
memorial of the prince Leopold, who was killed
in the hattle of Giossgorschen (May 2d I8i;i).
The Luthereiche (Luther's oak) lies again
nearer to Homburg. The easiest road to it turns
off to the right frora the Elisabethensrhneisse, im
mediately above the deerpark, then crosses another
road, and about 200 yards farther one comes to
a footpath, which again turns to the right. This

— 127 —
opens into a clear space , in the middle of which
stands a young tree, called: ,.the Luthereiche,"
This tree was planted in 18 1 7, in commemoration
of the great reformation which 300 years before
had been headed by Luther, — From this spot
one enjoys one of the prettiest views in the whole
mountain. There are here a summerhouse, tables
and benches. A shady footpath leads down from
the height to a lawn, a favourite haunt of the
Homburg people. Young and old of all conditions
resort there in large parties, particularly on As
cension day and Whit-monday. They spend their
time there in eating, drinking, singing, dancing
and play. Different shady walks lead in an eas
terly diredion to Domholzhausen. Close by the
lawn stands a little summerhouse aud on its W.
side lies a fairy-mount.
The Bleibeskopf can be reached either by
the road rising behind the Elisabethenstein , close
by the schone Aussicht, or by the road which
rises between the deerpark and the Luthereiche.
After 1 'A hour's waik (from Homburg) the road
suddenly ascends. When arrived at the highest
point of the road one turns to the, left and climbs
up to the rocky top. It is surrounded ..by a cir
cular rampart, which is still in tolerable good con
dition and seems to have been a double rampart
on the S, .side. It measures about 600 steps in
circumferance. Towards N, W, and S, E, this wall

— 128 —
is sfrengthened by a chain of rocks. Some rocks
also rise in the middle of the enclosed space.
The Marmorstein is about IV4 hour's walk
distant from Homburg, The nearest way passes
by Domholzhausen, leaving the mill near the Fo
rellenteich (trout-pond) on the left, enters the
wood and changes ils direction at the crossing
of a roaii, called the Lindenweg, One follows its
direction for about 25 yards to the right, where
again another road goes off to the left, which gra
dually rising to the Stellweg. ends at the S, side
of the heights upon which the rocks of the Mar
morstein appear. This place is one of the most
remarkable points in the whole raountains. It con
sists of 5 raasses of q'tartz-rocks overhanging the
slope of the mountain which can easily be climbed.
In the variety and beauty of their groups they
are said even to excel those of the Felsenmeer
in the Odenwald,
The Herzberg may be ascended from the
Marmorstein. This mountain offers a striking ap
pearance from Homburg and chiefly from the Lui
senstrasse to which it lies directly opposite. Its
top is covered with wood so that the view is not
extensive.

— 129 —
The Saalburg.
This remarkable and much visited spot lies
about 4 Engl, miles distant from Homburg. Thc
highroad to Usingen leads to it through Domholz
hausen. A shorter road to it is the following:
Quitting the highroad at Domholzhausen and lea
ving the village on the right hand, one follows
the straight way for a short distance and then
takes the first turn to the right through fields and
orchards. This way passes a corner of the wood
called „Balzerh6hlchen", where there are traces of
Roman road defences; goes straight on through
fields and meadows over the Kirdorfer brook and
then rises gently to the Usingen highroad. At
the turn of this road one comes to a Swiss cot
tage, built in 1858, where one can rest and find
refreshments, as well as a guide to the camp. The
summit where il stands is called the ,,fr6hliche
Mann" (merry man), and the view from it is in
deed cheerful.
There is no doubt that this place, which is
the lowest and the narrowest pass in all our
mountains was also that most anciently used: for
the command of which the Germans built their
Gickelsburg and the Romans their Arxtauni, and
where as late as the last century the Prussians
made considerable intrenchments. The present high-
road was constructed in 1817, At its highest

130

point, 1305 feet above the level of the sea, the
Saalburg lies on the left hand. The ancient Ro
man paved road, lately newly restored, leads in a
northerly direction through the middle of the out
lying settlements, and through the porta decumana
into the interior of the camp.
The camp forms a regular quadrangle with
somewhat rounded corners, measures 704 Rhen. feet
in length and 465 in breadth, and contains from
7 to 8 Engl, acres. The wall surrounding it is
6 feet thick at the bottom and forming on the
foundations two socles of V2 foot each, it measu
res only 5 feet at the top. This wall is again
surrounded by a double trench, between which
runs a rarapart, which was formerly sfrengthened
by palisades. Another rarapart leans on the in
side of the surrounding wall , and behind this is
another trench. Four gates, each protected by
two square towers, of which the foundation walls
still rise 4 (eet above the ground, led to the interior.
We have entered through the porta decuraana
and walk along the street, which runs lengthways
through the carap and goes out through the porta
praetoria at the opposite side. Close to the sur
rounding walls probably stood siraple tents or
huts, made of clay, wood or straw, of which no
traces remain. Only farther in the interior appear
on both sides of the road the excavated foundation
walls and brick-lioors of buildings which stood

131

there. The arrangements for heating the rooms
by fire-places and pipes for conducting the heat
are very remarkable. About 80 steps from the
gate the street runs through a sort of entrance-
court, where the chief street crosses that connect
ing the two side gates. At the other side of
this court we enter the praetoriura, the chief-
building of the fortifications. On both sides of it
sfretch the single inner divisions of the building;
on the light hand side appear, isolated from the
rest, the foundations of a little building which
probably was used for the preservation of the flags,
standards etc. Proceeding on our way we arrive
at the inner court of the building which was sur
rounded by pillars; the sandstones, upon which
the pillars rested, are still to be seen. People
perceive also here two blocks of sandstone joined
together on which formerly stood a metal statue,
the remains of which are still to be seen at the castle^
and lead us to conclude that it was double the
size of life. In the inner part of the camp two
wells were found, both lined with stones, and
both of considerable depth. One of the wells is
situated in the angle between the chief-.street and
the eastern part of the crossing street, the other
between the praetoriura and the porta praetoria.
From the southeastern to the southwestern
side of the camp a civil settlement formed a kind
of suburb. Remarkable buildings whose walls are

132

still of a considerable height have been found here
and show besides their brick-floors, well preserved
parts of the inner wainscoat. Both the heating
and bathing arrangements are most curious. —
At this part of the place the excavations are least
advanced and do not yet allow a general view of
the whole. The old Roraan road which has lately, been
restored, up to the Usingen highroad, runs, as we
have raentioned above iu a straight line to the
Roman station „novus vicus", near Heddernheim.
On both sides of this road, immediately near the
Saalburg, Ues the burying-place, and next to this,
the place destined for the burning of the corpses.
A great number of tombs have been laid open.
They show round urns, containing the ashes of
tbe burned corpses and different vessels placed at
its side. When describing the Landgrave's castle we
have already mentioned the votive stones, utensils,
arms, coins and other things found at this place
(p, 46). There is only to be mentioned here an anti
quity, found, according to documental informations
io 1720 at the so called „Emesberg", W. of the
Saalburg. It was a sandstone coffin, on which
were carved a hand, a cinerarium, a battleaxe and
the inscription: „Hic jacet Drusus", and the letters:
H. S. T. Tradition says that in this coffin were

133

found an urn, two armrings and two smaller ring.s,
and a lamp which was only extinguished when
the coffin was opened. This remarkable memorial
is said to be built into the foundations of the castle
at Horaburg. — Adraitting the correctness of this
statement we can only suppose, that this Drusus
was the famous Roman general, by assuraing that
the coffin was originally intended for his interraent
and not employed for fhis purpose, or only as a
cenotaph. And by this, the further supposition
would be supported, according to which the Saal
burg was the summer camp, lying between the Salas
and the Rhine, where Drusus died.
This very N. T. Drusus was the founder of
the Saalburg, or at least of a fortification which
stood at the same place. It is proved by docu
ments that he erected about the year B, T. 1 1 an
entrenchment (praesidium) on the Taunus, which
was destroyed by the Germans A, D. 9., after the
battle in the Teutoburg-fforest. But on these re
mains Germanicus, the son of Drusus, erected new
fortifications A. D. 15,*) There is no doubt that
this was our Saalburg, whose surrounding walls
are of the oldest architecture and' not yet provided
with with particular projecting towers. kThis place
is also remarked upon by the Greek geographer

*) Tacitus Ann. I, 56. : „Posito castello super vestigia pii-
terui praesidii in monte Tauno.''

— 134 —
Ptolemaeus, who wrote about the middle of the
second century. He mentions in his list of towns
a certain „Arxtaunon", situated under 29" 70' lon
gitude and 50" latitude. Were we to read it in
good latin it would be Arxtauni, w^hich means
Taunus-castle; and the Saalburg alone can lay
claim to this name, as the principal fortification of
the Taunus. Its situation also agrees vrith their
descriptions, as far as can be expected from those
ancient writings.
From the inscriptions on the votive stones, al
tars, and the stamps of the bricks and tiles, which
have been found at or near the Saalburg we can
discern which divisions of the army, either in se
parate cohorts and at different times; or altogether,
have formed the garrison of the camp. We thus
learn that it was occupied by the 8th and 2 2d
legion, the 3d and 4th cohort of the Vindelicians,
the 2d of the Rhaetians, the 1st of Roman citizens,
and the 1st Flavian cohort, the Damascenian. —
The population of the civil settlements probably
consisted for the raost part of soldiers unfit for
service. Tradespeople and handcraftsmen found
their raeans of livelihood in the wants of the gar
rison, but chielly in commerce with the German
inhabitants who had fixed residences on the other
side of the mountains.
The changing fortune of war repeatedly occasi
oned demolitions and restorations both of the town

— 135 —
and the camp. The present remains of the buil
dings would lead us to infer five different demo
litions, which may have taken place at short in
tervals. Many of the buildings seem to have been
raised anew far too hastily, in view of the pro
bable necessity of their being again abandoned
before long; it is only thus we can explain the
neglectful and irregular architecture, which is to
be perceived here and there in different buildings.
— Being one of the most important places on the
right bank of the Rhine, the Arxtauni may have
been taken and corapletely destroyed for the last
time by the Alleraani and given up by the Roraans
only towards the end of the 3d century, — It
may be possible that the old and ruined fortifica
tions became an Imperial doraain under the Empe
rors of the Carolingian family and belonged to one
of the neighbouring ,,salas," From this may also
arise the name Saalburg, which could not be ex
plained otherwise. There may also, as many sup
pose — at that time have been here or in the
neighbourhood an Imperial hunting-castle.
The place was used for a long time as a
quarry, and only found some importance as an
historical curiosity towards the end of the last
century. It was then that the late counsellor of
the Landgrave, E, Neuhof, made searches and ex
cavations and published the results. The newest
excavations were done under the direction of the

— 136 —
keeper of the archives, Mr. Habel, Tbe most con
siderable sacrifice for this purpose was made by
H. S. Highness, the Landgrave Ferdinand, in giving
permission for a free exploration by cutting down
a considerable tract of wood of the Landgrave's
doraain. This sacrifice deserves rauch coramendation
as this tract contained the finest wood.
The Saalburg is not only a most remarkable
point for the historian, but also for the botanist.
Nearly all the plants growing in our monntains,
and amongst these some very rare specimens,
may be found at this spot, narrow in proportion
to the whole; as the ground, here dry and stony
or consisting of chalk and rubbish , there fat and
improved by former cultivation, or marshy in the
lower parts, contains favourable conditions for all
varieties of plants. Still more remarkable is the
appearance of some plants, only growing in gardens,
which were formerly planted here and have been
preserved in a wild state which has been conM-
derably changed.
The little rose-garden is an oblong hill
of thrown up earth, close by the Swiss cottage
and close by the Saalburg. As far as we know,
no excavations have been made here, although they
pretend to have found here remains of Roman works.
This may perhaps have been the site of the above
luentioned Imperial hunting-iiouse. Old fraditions

— 137 —
speak of a Royal castle which is said to have
stood here, aud the name of the place also is
significant. The „Fr6hliche Manns-Kopf", one of the
hills in the neighbourhood of the Saalburg has
lately become of considerable resort on account of
a summerhouse, erected on the top of it.
There are yet a few more points in the neigh
bourhood of the Saalburg worth seeing. — A way
which turns to the left frora the Usingen highroad,
between the Saalburg and the Swiss cottage, leads
to the Pfahlgraben which runs at a distance of
250 yards from the Saalburg, We reserve the
description of it for one of the following pages.
Some hundred steps farther on the right hand side
of the road lies an open place, where under the
shade of some large beeches issues a well, called
the ,,DreimiihIborn."- Following the sarae road
to where it leaves the forest, and then turning to
the right we come to a lawn, called the „Dru-
senmarsch," At the E, side of it rises an arti
ficial hillock, the „Drusenk6ppel," This latter
is about 70 steps in circumference at its summit,
and 21 in diameter. It is surrounded by a ditch,
filled by a brook (lowing close to it. This may
probably have been one of the forts thrown out
in advance of the Saalburg, perhaps as an obser
vatory. At the rampart there are still remains of

— 138 —
of walls. A paved way leads to the Saalburg,
running in the same direction as the principal
street of the camp.

The Gickelsburg.

The way to this remarkable place will hardly
be found without a guide and therefore we think
it unnecessary to give a minute description of the
road. It may be ascended from the Saalburg in
Vi hour, from Domholzhausen or Friedrichsdorf
in 1 hour. The ascent is very steep towards the
suramit, which is surrounded by a circular stone-
rampart, low, but well preserved. This rampart
measures 480 steps in circumference and is strength
ened on its N. E. side by a double earth-rampart
and a ditch. The entrance, a sort of hollow-way
is at the S. side of the rampart, whence a consi
derable chain of rocks descends the mountain.
There are two openings in the rampart, perhaps
where wooden towers forraerly stood. The view
from the rocks is one of the prettiest in the whole
country.

The valley of K6ppern.
The Erlenbach (alder-brook) which des
cends from a hill, called the Klingenkopf, flows

— 139 —
at the other side of the hills through a fine mea
dow-valley. Then turning due S, E. it breaks
through the hills and forms in its course a deep
valley, rich in beauty of scenery, which ends near
Kiippern. The convent Thron-Maria is situated at
the higher end of the above mentioned valley.
From Homburg the nearest way to it passes the
Saalburg, and running on to the Pfahlgraben turns
to the right at the spot, where a stone-column
marks the boundery of Hesse-Homburg and Nassau.
The convent was founded in 1243 by the count
Gerhard of Dietz and destined for the order of the
Cistercians. From the year 1528 the convent gra
dually decayed in consequence of the extension of
the reformation, and in 1576, after the death of
the abbess Margarethe of Hattstein, it was alto
gether suppressed. The buildings are now chan
ged into barns and stables of a farm, where one
can always find refreshmehts. Single gates and
windows wiih pointed arches still indicate the
former destination. A chapel which had stood at
that part of the courtyard, which is now left open,
was pulled down at the beginning of this century.
The garden in which is now the, small burying-
ground of the family of the present proprietor,
contained formerly the tombs of the nuns. A tomb
stone which has been dug up here and is still to
be seen, bears the inscription: '

— 140 —
anna bm mrrrcrvtt in bte afre ntrte obiit aUt)Ht b,
ti^tnbeni filia jol)annt» mtlitts b. stogljnm cujus
ata requtesrot in fate. amtn.
and between this the arms of Reiffenberg and
Stockheim. Leaving the farm and going S. E. through
a meadow we arrive at the Lochmiihle, situated
at the beginning of the valley. The mountains
here come so close together that the brook and
the way which follows its windings can hardly
find room enough. Here and there the hills retire
and give place to small lawns, which, sprinkled
over with groups of alders aud beeches, form very
pretty scenery. — The Erlenbach which is at this
place already a brook of tolerable size, here flows
in a broad pebbly bed between the rocks, then
falls foaming from the cliffs.
The B ira stein, 1 Engl, mile distant from the
Kloster Thron, is the most remarkable point of
that neighbourhood. Where on the way along
the brook a platform of rock appears . we turn a
little to the right, and mounting the hill we arrive
at the Bimstein. Considerable masses of rocks
frowning over the valley are here heaped up in
confusion. Towards the S. E. the neighbouring
hills retire a little and thus afford a splendid view
over the country below as if one was looking out
of a window. Lower down, several mills and

- 141 — .
spinning-works, all prettily situated, enliven the
valley which ends close to Koppern (p. 114).
One can however also, when leaving the woods,
turn to the right, and skirting them take the way
home by Friedrichsdorf.

The Goldgrube.

Different ways lead to this point, which for
several reasons deserves our attention. Carriages
generally take when going there the poplar-avenue
and its continuation the Elisabethenscbneisse till
beyond the Leopoldstein: and at the foot of the
Landgrafenberg they turn to the left, where the
way is indicated by a fingerpost. This way
leads through a pretty dell, formed by a brook,
called ,.das kalte Wasser" to the open place on
the heights of the Goldgrube. The easiest and
the nearest way goes by the Teraple (p. 125).
The straight way, called: „Obehskenschneisse"
then goes to the foot of the Sangenberg. On
the top of this hill stands a small obelisk.
Turning then to the left we arrive at the above
mentioned road, which coraes from the Landgrafen
berg aud goes to the hill of the Goldgrube S. of
this place is the Hangelstein, a mass of rocks
af the southern declivity of the GoldgrubenhilL
The view from this spot is confined on the mountain

— 142 —
iside, but very extensive over the plain, and ap
pears most striking as one stands on this far pro
jecting rock.
The Goldgrube (gold-mine) itself is situated
at the foot of these rocks. It is a gallery cut 200
yards into the slate rock and can be penetrated
to the end with the help of torchlight. Three
short sidepassages go off from the principal gal
lery; one of them, which is about 22 steps from
the enfrance, forms a hall at the extremity of which
is a shaft, about 15 feet in depth and nearly full
of water. Farther up on the hill to the W. of this
gallery appears the entrance of a second one, now
filled up. Both are raarked on an old plan of mines
which is still kept in the castle, — Many histo
rians have sought here the mines, wliih were
opened in the country of the Mattiaci by the Roman
general Curtius Rufus, But the way of mining
shows that this gold-mine was only begun 200
or 300 years ago, and still worked or recomraen-
ced under the reign of Frederick 11. The working
of the mines was always very expensive and
froublesome and was never renumerative. — The
remains of fortifications on the Goldgrubenhill are
most remarkable. They consist of stone-ramparts,
and towards the N. and E. of ramparts of earth
intermixed with stones, and bordered with deep
ditches. The space surrounded by the rarapnrts
is very extensive and forms a quadrangle with

— 143 —
rounded corners. The raraparts for the most part
run in a tolerably straight direction and form by
their connection different single courts. In the
midst of these ramparts are several cavities, some
of which may even be called deep. By accidental
excavations in the inner space there were found
different objects apparently of ancient German origin,
viz, stones of handmills and pieces of roughly
worked vessels of badly burned clay. These for
tifications were protected towards the N. and W,
by the Heidenmauer (heathen's wall), a line of
fortifications on the neighbouring hill, Lindenberg,
which have recently been destroyed. Towards the
E, and S, they were protected by the Heidengra
ben, which will be mentioned in the valley of the
Ursel , and by the neighbouring land-defences
(p. 144). Their proper lines descended down to the
valley of the Ursel, barred it, and joined the ram
parts of the Dalwigsberg, which rises Opposite, —
At the N. side of the hill H. S. B, the Landgrave
Ferdinand discovered the remains of a Roman camp.

The valley of the Drsel,
When describing Oberursel , we have already
mentioned this valley. The nearest way to it from
Homburg goes through Oberstedten.

- 144 —
At the Heidengraben is the beginning of
the valley of the Ursel. This Heidengraben consists
of an earth-rampart, surrounded by a ditch, which
runs in a straight hne due N. into the forest,
where it still rises to a height of 6 feet. At its
S. side, as we have mentioned (p. 11) lie groups
of fairy-mounts of which part only have been
opened. The Urselbrook is employed in the works
of different manufactories. In the space of less
than 8 Engl, miles it. puts in motion 43 sets of
machinery. Of these the most considerable are
the spinning-works „an der Hohen Mark." The
chief-building, built between 1858 and 1860 already
occupies the whole breadth of the valley and is
intended to be considerably enlarged. It is in
length 250 feet and the principal rooms are 230
feet long. Here, as well as in the spinning-works
of Mr. Klotz, which are situated more towards the
S., the Urselbrook is directed in particular beds
to a certain heights from which it falls by means
of pipes and thus puts the large works in motion.
Between the Dalwigsberg and the Goldgruben
hill the Ursel is called Heidtranke, The valley
here cuts a narrow and deep channel through the
mountains and the brook foams over the cliffs aud
under over-arching trees.
Of the 7 or 8 princijial sources of the Ursel
we only mention the Hermannsborn, of which
tradition relates tbat Armiuius ur Hermann, tbe

— 145 —
prince of the Cherusci and the conqueror of the
Romans in the battle of the T
once rested here with his army.

Romans in the battle of the Teutoburger Wald,

The Altkonig.

To visit the Altkonig frora Homburg people
must either mount the Dalwigsberg which adjoins
it, or take a great circuit by OberurseL We ad
vise the first.
The Dalwigsberg rises abruptly frora the
Ursel-valley and the summit consists of three dif
ferent plateaux. One of these plateaux shows the
mighty stone-ramparts, called the ,,Alten Hofe"
or „Alth6fer Mauer" (old courtyards). These ram
parts do not surround the hill in circular lines,
but rather run in straight lines; here tbey lie close
together, there diverging, they form different courts,
or descending, they form bars in the valley, —
On another height of the Dalwigsberg, N. W, of
the Alton Hofe is the weisse Mauer (white wall).
It consists of two stone-ramparts at the edge of
the hill, probably erected here to command tbe
Ursel-valley. A very pretty and easy road leads firom the
Dalwigsberg up to the top of the Altkonig or
Altking. This the nearest of the three highest
points of the Taunus, is 2449 Par, f, high. In the
10

— 146 —
middle ages the mountain was called Altkim or
Aitkin. The steep top of the Altkonig is surrounded
by a double stone-rampart. The interior circle
measures about 1300, tbe exterior 1600 steps.
Towards the S. a third rampart appears as a sort
of advanced work, connected with the exterior
rampart and descending the mountain more than
500 yards. There are three entrances in the prin
cipal outside wall: the interior wall has only one
in the S. E. side. The last rampart consists
throughout of considerable sized stones and is
much sfronger than the outside one, which is built
only with small stones. The caviti'es in the form
of caldrons, in the space surrounded by the ram
parts deserve further attention. They chiefly appear
neajr the principal enfrance and on that side of
the heights where the enfrance is situated. Some
of them are of considerable depth. Similar ones
are found in nearly all the circular ramparts. One
of these Cavities the bottom of which is paved
with a layer of stones, may have served as a cis
tern. The „Pflaster", a road paved in Roman
fashion, deserves no less attention: it ascends the
mountain from W, to E, and enters at the S, side
into the first circle, at the S. £. side into the second.
Many fraditions are attached to the mountain
and to the stone-ramparts crowning its top. They
all relate that once a mighty king Uved, died and

— 147 —
was buried there. According to one tradition this
king was called Ehrenfest (Ariovistus); according
to another it was a Turkish Sultan who was bu
ried here, and the tradition, or rather the prophecy
further says, that the Turks will come One day
to liberate this grave, which is holy to them, from
Christian hands. „Then will be a great slaughter
and the waves of the Rhine will becorae all red
with the blood shed there. But the last Turkish
Sultan will be killed with a washing-beetle by
an old woman at Cologne."
People enjoy from the Altkonig towards S.
E, and W, a still finer distant view than from the
Feldberg, which, though higher, stands farther
back. The lovely Rhinegau and the splendid
country embosomed by the blue heights of tbe
Odenwald, Spessart and Vogelsberg lie spread out
here at the feet of the tourist,
A prominent point of the Altkiinig towards
S, is the Hiihnerberg or Hiinenberg, There are
considerable earth-ramparts to be seen on it, and
at its foot rises a high, steep rock, called Hauburg-
stein (perhaps Heun-, or Hunburgstein),

The Feldberg.

The way to the Feldberg is easily to be found.
A pedestrian first takes, when leaving Homburg,

148

the poplar-avenue and then the Elisabethenscbneisse,
till where it reaches the Pfahlgraben. At this
place the road makes its first curve and goes into
another road which runs towards S. W. Follow
ing the latter, one takes on the left hand side a
narrower way, indicated as the way to the Feld
berg, which rises gently to the top. Three quarters
of an hour's walk are sufficient to raount the Feld
berg frora Reiffenberg, IV2 from Konigstein and
2V4 from Homburg.
The Feldberg is the highest mountain of the
Taunus chain and of S. W. Germany in general.
It rises 2721 P. f. above the level of the German
Ocean, Its top forms a plateau almost bare, and
containing about 40 Engl, acres. The vegetation,
which consists for the most part of grass and
moss, produces also heath, the red bilberry and
the white hawthorn. From the top of the Feld
berg one overlooks the finest countries of Germany
in a circumference of about 450 Engl, miles, and
a sharp eye, with a good clear sky, will be able
to count 12 towns and about 100 villages. We
intend to give here the most distant mountain tops
visible from the summit. Towards N, E. the Dins-
berg and the Taufstein in the Vogelsberg, the Meis-
ner and the Inselberg in the Thiiringer Wald;
towards E. the higher tops of the Rhiin and Spes
sart raountains; towards S. E. the Katzenbuckel
and Melibocus in the Odenwald, the Heiligenberg

— 149 —
and Konigsstuhl near Heidelberg, the Merkursberg
near Baden; towards S. the Donnersberg and still
beyond this the Donon in the Vasgau; towards
W. the Idar and Soonwald and the Hunsriick; to
wards N, W. and N, the Siebengebirg, the heights
of the Westerwald and the Westphalian mountains.
Very few other mountains will offer a view
so extensive and at the sarae time over such pretty
countries. Very splendid indeed is the view of
the sun or full-moon rising 'or setting from this
mountain. Thousands and thousands wander every
year to this mountain which is easily climbed on
foot or even in a carriage. Every year on the
last Sunday of June there are held here great na
tional festivals which are for the most part fre
quented by reunions of gymnastics, singers and
shooters of the neighbouring towns and villages.
For the accommodation of travellers and for their
protection againsf storm and rain, a house of re
fuge was built here by voluntary subscriptions.
The foundation-stone was laid June, 26th 1859,
and the inauguration of the house took place in
August I860. The house contains a common room
and bed-rooms sufficient in number and size for
ordinary visitors. The tower of the house has a
platform on its top.
The name of the Feldberg may be derived
frora the fieldlike plain which forms its top, The
larger portion of the top belongs to Hesse-Homburg;

— 150 —
the smaller, lying on the N. W. side, to Nassau.
A stone, erected in commemoration of the division
of the hohe Mark into allotments, marks the boun
dary. On the N, E, side, and belonging to Hom
burg, rises a quartz-rock, very much cleft, 12
to 14 feet in height, and 80 yards in circum
ference. It is called Brunbildstein and formerly
also bore the name of Venusstein or Agrippi-
nentempeL This rock is mentioned in records
as early as 812, 1043 and 1221 under the name
of „lectulus Brunnehilde" and has always been
a landinark. As such it was always sacred for
the people and the sacrifice-cup, which is still to
be seen on the N, E, side of the principal rock,
points still to its destination as an altar. There
are still many fraditions concerning the stone.
The Liitzelfeldberg or small Feldberg rises
W. of the large Feldberg to a height of 2482 P.
f. above tbe level of the sea, and thus is higher
than the Altkonig, Although it affords a finer
view towards W., it is very seldom visited.

The Pfahlgraben Cpaiing ditch).
The Pfahlgraben is one of the most important
works ever executed by human indusfry. It consisted,
as may still be seen in several places, of an earth-
rampart from 8 to 10 feet high, on the outside

151

protected by a ditch, 10 feet in depth and from
18 to 20 feet in breadth. These fortifications were
further strengthened by a stoccade on the top of
the rampart. The palisades stood close together
and branches of trees were twisted between them.
At the points most frequently threatened the ram
part was a double one, at other places it only con
sisted of a rampart of loose stones. At different
intervals it was strengthened by smaller camps,
watch-towers, hills and towers upon which the
fire-signals were given.
The Pfahlgraben begins near Neuwied on the
Rhine, passes Langenschwalbach and appears in
our counfry on the Liitzelfeldberg from which it
runs to the N, W. declivity of the Feldberg, Here
close by the Pfahlgraben is situated the „Heiden-
ki^che," These fortifications are 75 feet ih length
and 25 in breadth. At one end of each of the longer
sides stands an advanced work terminated by. a
round tower. About 60 steps behind these ad
vanced works lies the proper Castellum. It is one
of the best preserved Roman stations; for the out
side walls still reach a height of 8 — 12 feet. The
camp forms a square, each of the sides of which
are 100 steps long. In the interior were found
bricks which bore the stamps of the 12th legion
and of one cohort of Catharensi (from Syria). —
Some antiquarians suppose that the river JuUa,
mentioned by Vellejus, was the Weil (Vilia), and that

— 152 —
this castellum standing next to the spring of fhe
Weil was the camp in which the Roman army
passed the winter of the year 4 A, D. and pro
bably also that ofthe following year.
The ,,alte Jagdhaus" on the Kolbenberg is
situated about 50 steps behind the Pfahlgraben.
It is a small square Castellum of which each side
is 30 yards long. In the middle formerly rose a
sort of double tower whose walls are each 10
yards long.
The Pfahlgraben consists onty of a stone-ram
part on tbe Klingenkopf-mountain. Here on
one of the most eminent heights of the Taunus
appears close bj-^ the wall a hill of earth, perhaps
concealing tbe foundations of a tower, and close
behind it is a hillock of stones, also artificiaL
The ,,Heidenstock" lies close by the Pfahl
graben. The fortifications behind the rampart and
the ditches are 28 steps in length and 22 in breadth.
On the Rosskopfthe Pfahlgraben again ap
pears as a stone-rampart. It is remarkable that
the line of defence leaves the sumrait of the raoun
tain within the enemj^'s boundar)', and that on
the S. E, side of this hill runs a stone-rampart
which seems to be the remains of a German cir
cular rampart. — On the height of the Einsiedel
the Pfahlgraben is likewise formed of loose stones,
and another stone-rampart, called the „Zwerch-

153

mauer", descends from it in a northem direction
and surrounds the E. side of the hill.
Passing the Kisshiibel, the Hollerberg arid
the Weissenstein, a chain of rocks well worth
visiting, the Pfahlgraben next descends to the
Saalburg which it embraces, but within a wide
sweep. Then descending to the valley of Koppern,
it rises again to the „grauer Berg" and over the
Wellenberg to the Kapersburg.
The Kapersburg is one of the larger camps
leaning on the Pfahlgraben. From Koppem a small
path through the wood, called Hiihnerpfad which
is put for Hiihnenpfad (giants' path) leads to it.
The carap forms an oblong quadrangle of about
600 steps in circumference. A deep and broad
ditch surrounds the outside walls which are nearly
5V2 feet in breadth. In the raiddle of the camp
are traces of former buildings of which the foun
dation walls may still be excavated. Regular ex
cavations have not yet been made here; only by
^chance there were found pieces of all kinds of
vessels and stones bearing the stamps of the 22d
legion. All signs testify that the destruction of
the camp was accorapanied by a fire. *
From the Kapersburg the Pfahlgraben follows
for some time the ridge of the mountains, then
descending to the valley of the Usa it takes the
direction of the little Hausberg by Langenhain.
Beyond the Arnsburg cloister in the Wetterau it

— 154 —
is almost entirely obliterated by modem agricul
ture, so that its traces can no longer be followed
out with any certainty. But they reappear near
Seligenstadt on the Main so that the works seem
to have been connected with the defences of the
Odenwald and, taking a wide circuit, with the
Teufelsmauer (devil's wall) near the Danube and
to have touched the Lech, near Augsburg.
The object of the Pfahlgraben must have been
to protect the tithe-land which was in permanent
subjection to the Roman rule, against the Barba
rians. The time when this grand work was erected
can not be exactly ascertained. However one
may conjecture that in. the time of Drusus and
Augustus the Romans had scarcely arrived at the
idea of fixing fortified boundaries, although different
fortifications were then erected which were in later
times comprised in the circuit of the Pfahlgraben.
Only the palisade ramparts erected in 84 A. D.
by Domitian, 120 millia in length, and the abatis,
erected by Hadrian 122 A. D., as boundaries, seenv
to point to the Pfahlgraben,

The valley of the Weil.
On the N. W. side of the great Feldberg, not
far from its foot and close by the Roman camp
described p. 151 issue the different sources of the

— 155 —
Well, which follows its winding course through
a most lovely valley till it falls into the river Lahn.
Numerous villages, mills, forges and founderies en
liven both its banks and gray old castles crown
the neighbouring hills.
We intend first to visit Reiffenberg which
is only 2 Engl, miles distant from the top of the
Feldberg, but 12 Engl, miles from Homburg. On
a sjieep rock rise the ruins of the old castle, and
at the foot of the rock stands the little village of
Reiffenberg. The castle probably bears its name,
which formerly was Riffenberg, from the Riff (cliff)
on which it is built. The knightly family who
inhabited it is said to have existed as early as
the beginning of the 10th century. But there is
no doubt that it was one of the oldest families
in this neighbourhood. Towards the end of the
13th century it consisted of two families, the Wet
terau and the Westerwald branches. Of the first
family, it is proved that the last male heir died in
1686; as to the latter it is uncertain. Amongst
the knightly owners of Reiffenberg appears a fa
mily of the name Rodel of Reiffenberg. The knights
of Reiffenberg were by their robberies and their im
petuous quarrelsome disposition often involved in
feuds; but at the beginning of the 16th century
there even rose contentions between the two fa
milies, in consequence of which the castle, between
the years 1580 to 1602 was several times taken

— 156 —
and destroyed. — Also in the 30 years war the
castle suffered much; not less than six times it
was taken by different troops. Only one meraber
of the Wetterau family who was in the legal pos
session of the castle and domain lived to see the
end of this war. His name was PhiUp Lewis of
Reiffenberg. He was a canon of Mayence, which
dignity was taken from him in 1688, and at the
same time he was condemned to imprisonment for
the rest of his life. The crunes he was charged
with were, there is no doubt, for the most part
invented to deprive him of his possessions. After
his death, which took place in May 1686 at the
fortress of Konigstein , the castle and domain of
Reiffenberg were taken possession of by the Elec
torate of Mayence. The castle had in the mean
time been entirely destroyed and fell to decay.
In later times it came with its appurtenances into
the possession of the counts of Waldbott-Bassen-
heim, in 1852 it came by a sale to the proprietor
Umber and in 1857 it became domain of Nassau.
The high tower of the castle, called „Philip's tower",
and a quadrangular building about 70 feet high,
are the only remains of the old castle. The foun
dations of the towers and parts of the walls of
the castle are cut into the rocks: the same is the
case with a part of the trench of the castle, and
even single works with entrance and canonholes
are cut into the rocks. Shady ashes, elms and

— 157 —
sycamores now grow over the remains of the
mighty castle.
On a bare hill S. E. of Reiffenberg stands the
sepulchre, erected in 1730, which encloses the
tombs of the last count of Reiffenberg and of both
his parents. The valley of the Weil begins behind Reiffen
berg, and from its very commencement its beauti
ful scenery is well deserving of admiration. At
the right hand side of the way one reaches after
half an hour's walk the hill on which stand the
remains of the Hattstein castle.
The Hattstein castle is said to have been
built towards the end of the 1 2th century by one
Hatto of Reiffenberg, and named after him. His
son called himself after the castle and thus becarae
the founder of the family of the Hattsteiners, which
became extinct in the male line in 1767. The
castle was a Ganerbenhaus (a castle held in com
mon occupancy by a body of knights) and was
feared in the neighbourhood and at a distance, as
a dangerous nest of robbers. According to an
account which wants corroboration it was taken
as early as 1369, and in 1374 it was besieged
again. In 1432 the castle was taken by storm
and taken possession of by Francfort, Mayence
and Isenburg and some of the lower nobility. One
of the Reiffenbergers surprised the castle and de
stroyed it in 1467. But it was rebuilt again and

158

a new society of Ganerbens was formed. After
this , first the counts of Reiffenberg and then tbe
Electorate of Mayence occupied tbe castle by force.
In 1686 it came into the possession of the count
of Waldbott-Bassenheim and frora that tirae it shared
the fate of the castle and doraain of Reiffenberg. -^
Since the 17th century the castle was no longer
inhabited and fell raore and more into decay. Only
a single gate's arch is still preserved, and high
gloomy trees rise over the remains of walls once
so powerful. Lonely and nearly forgotten rest
the remains of the once dreaded castle.
At a quarter of an hour's distance E. from
Hattstein in the bosom of a valley lies the little
village of Arnoldshain and just as far to the N.
the village of Schmitten. From thence the way
leads first to Dorfweil (I Engl, mile distant) then
to Brorabach (2 Engl, mile distant) and then a
mile and half more on to HundstalL
An Engl, mile farther on we arrive at tbe
Landstein where the Finsternihal-valley runs into
that of the Weil. The Landstein is now a farm;
formerly a village of the same name was situated
there which was celebrated from its much frequen
ted fairs and also as resort of pilgrims. The church
is the only remnant of the village.
At the right hand side of Landstein on the
declivity of the hill is situated Altweilnau. The
counts of Weilnau, who formerly resided here,

— 159 —
were descendents of the counts of Dietz, with
whom they shared in common the possession of
the place. A count Henry III of Dietz was the
founder of that family, whose estates however came
in the 14th century into the possession of the
counts of Nassau. The old tower, about 60 feet
high is almost the only remnant.
Neuweilnau lies on the opposite side of the
valley. The castle was built in the second half
of the 13th century by the counts of Weilnau and
was till 1326 their own property. In this year
it was mortgaged to Nassau and was not redee
med again. Some buildings of the castle are still
in a perfectly habitable state; others, principally
the works of fortification, are now decayed.
In order not to transgress tho limits of this
little work we must refrain from giving a complete
description of the valley. But the walk through
the whole valley of the Weil till this river falls
into the Lahn near Weilburg, so well repays the
visitor that we particularly recommend it to every
admirer of nature. The journey can be made both
in a carriage and on horseback.

The valley of the Usa.
The Usa or Us rises near Brorabach, flows
through Anspach, and then turns to the Uttle town
of Usingen which bears its narae from it.

— 160 —
A highroad which passes by the Saalburg and
through Wehrheira leads from Homburg to Usingen.
The borough of Webrheim appears in records as
eariy as 1046 and belonged to the counts of Dietz
and fell afterwards to Nassau.
Usingen is situated at a distance of 11 EngL
miles from Homburg. The little town was early
mentioned as Osingia. In 1303 it was held in
possession by the counts of Weilnau, was mort
gaged in 1326 t!i Nassau and became the absolute
property of the latter in 1405. — The castle at
Usingen was built in 1326, it was renovated and
enlarged in 1551 and again in 1651 when it be
came the seat of the family of Nassau-Usingen,
which settled in Wiesbaden in 1744. The castle
and the garden are in French taste, Usingen has
a seminary for the protestant schoolmasters of the
Duchy of Nassau.
Inns: the Krone, Adler, etc. — E, of Usingen
begins the Us-valley proper, which raay be called
the loveliest of all the valleys of the Taunus.
Kransberg is situated at a distance of about
8 Engl, miles from Homburg by the way of Webr
heim or by Koppern and Pfaffemviesbach. The
castle and the Uttle vUlage were the cenfre of a
principality which was sold in 1310 by the knights
of Kransberg to Falkenstein. In 1419 it came
into the possession of Eppstein, in 1535 into the

161

of Stolberg, in 1581 into that of the Electorate of
Mayence, in 1654 into that of Bassenheim and in
1853 it was purchased for the Ducal domain of
Nassau, The principal bnildings of the castle,
which rises on a rocky crag, are still preserved
and inhabited. The castle-tower with its strange
looking form is about 80 feet high.
The valley of the Usa begins at the „Her-
renmiihle", at a distance of 1 Engl, mile from
Kransberg, and a .splendid highroad leads from
this to Ziegenberg.
Ziegenberg only consists of a few houses,
charmingly situated between the mountains, and
the beauty of the valley is much increased by
pretty gardens. The inhabitants wear a sort of
national costume, pecuUar to the people living near
Butzbach. A castle, still well preserved, rises
above the village. It Ibrmerly belonged to Epp
stein , in 1478 it carae to Katzenelnbogen , after
wards to the family Diede , and is now in the
possession of Baron von Low,
A way which goes off from the highroad
leads by the Haselheck and the Johannisberg to
Nauheim,

Friedberg.

This town , containing. 5,600 inhabitants , is
situated N. E. of Homburg at a distance of 12 Engl,
11

- 162 —
miles. It is built on the site of a Roman town
which is supposed to have been one of the most im
portant in Germany. The castellum stood in the same
place as the present fort; the civil settlement seems
to have occupied nearly the same space as the
present town. Amongst the antiquities fonnd here,
the great quantity of gold, silver and metal coins
deserves particular remark, and stiU more the rem
nants of a Mithras temple, which stood in the neigh
bourhood of the present railway-station. ^
It is remarkable that this place which had
been built on the remains of a Roman settiement,
¦was not mentioned in records before the year 1217.
It must however have been important at the time,
as it was received in 1226 in the confederation of
Rhenish towns. The town was a free Imperial
city and of sorae importance as a mercantile town.
The fairs held here were verj' famous, but by de
grees lost their importance, diiefly from the rapid
rise of the nei^bouring city of Francfort The
place was also greatiy injured by two large fires
(1383 and 1447). In the year 1806 it came into
the possessioiD of Hesse-Darmstadt, and was united
with the Burg Friedberg in 1834.
Tbe town is now the centre of the district
of Friedberg and there are there a seminary for
protestant clergymen, another for protestant school-
majors^ an establishment for tbe instruction of
doaf aind 'dumb, and another for blind children.

— 163 —
The town-church is executed in pure Go
thic style. The E, part of it was built 'towards
the end of the 13th century; the W. part only at
the beginning of the 15th century. The excellent
organ of the church was built in 1848.
The Jews' bath, which was in possession
of thc Jews as early as 1350 is also worth iiv-
spection. It is a «ubterra mean building more than
90 feet deep and 20 feet wide. The lower part,
which is arranged for baths, contains water very
dear, through it has no visible means of escape.
There remains to be mentioned die large via*-
duct, which leads with 24 arches, the largest of
which attain a height (rf 70 feet, over the Usa,
close by Friedberg.
Tfee Hotels are: „Trapp*' and „Drei Sehwerter."
The Burg (fort) Friedberg, aa we have
mentnmed before, sitaiuk on the site of a Roman
castrum. Three gates of k are still to be seen is
the walls of the fort , the fourth was found some
years ago when repairing one of ^e exterior walls.
Accor4ing to the stamps found on bricks and tSes the
place was occupied by jarts .of the Vfflth, Xlth, and
Xllllth legions, part iof the first icohort of the Damas^
cenii and the first cohort &f ihe Aiquiitani -^ Pro>-
bably in the llth or 12th centuiy one of tbe
German Emperors erected an Imperial fort, <on ifbe
ruins of the fiooian easfrnm, and invjested the
knights who took tup thefr isesidence there with

— 164 —
various privileges. The first record which men
tions Friedberg was of the year 1217. From this
record we see, that there wa^ an Imperial fort
„Friedberg, whose knightly inhabitants were called
„castrenses", the civil inhabitants „burgenses", and
their commander „Burggraf." These Burggraves
were in the earliest times nominated by the Em
peror; by a decree of the year 1394 it was sett
led that they were to be elected by the knights,
or vassals, and confirmed by the Emperor. In the
earUest times these castrenses only consisted of
knights. — In 1219 the Emperor Frederick H who
resided 3 years in the fort and repaired its walls,
intrusted the protection of the convent of Arnsburg
and its appurtenances to the count and the knights
of Friedberg. In 1252 the fort was freed from
general war-taxes and in 1287 the Emperor Ru
dolph promised not to give them any new*castT
renses without the consent of the knights. In
1291 the fort was charged with the superinten-
dance of the Morler march. From the 2d half of
the 14th century the fort was involved in different
feuds. In 1347 count Adolph of Nassau had a
contest with the knights of Friedberg; they de
feated him, took him prisoner, and as a ransom
he was obliged to build the high tower which is
still to be seen at the N. part of the castle. In
1374 they were attacked by the count of Solms;
in the sarae year the counts and lords of Nassau-

— 165 —
Isenburg etc. allied with many others wished to
surprise the fort and town. The knights got in
telligence of it, went out, defeated them and made
more than 70 prisoners. Through the bravery of
the knights and their successes, the fort was dreaded
far and near, and its strength grew every year.
In 1400 there were 88 knights for the defence
of the castle, in 1450, more than 100. In the
latter and of the I4th century the fort acquired
the county of Kaichen. In 1414 Emperor Sigis
mund visited the castle and guaranteed its liberties,
— One of the mightiest Burggraves, was J. Bren
del of Homburg, who, being at the same tirae the
knight-captain of the Rhenish nobility, connected
the two corporations. In the 30 years war the
castle had much to suffer from different quarterings
and contributions. In 1415 six of th^ knights had
bought the castle and jurisdiction of Staden to
gether with 5 villages and had formed a Ganerben
haus in fort Friedberg which was only dissolved
in 1820, In 1806 the Burg fell to HCsse-Darmstadt
by the Rhenish-Bundes-Acte, and the last Burg
graf, count Klemens v, Westphal, died in 1819,
— The Burgwall, a garden laid out in the tren
ches of the old fort offers a very pretty view of
the Wetterau and is worthy of notice.

166

Vanheim and Schwalheim,

Nauheim is a charming Uttle place, 1 Engl.
mile distant from Friedberg. By its saltworks it
has been known for years; but it is only a few
years since Nauheim became a watering place.
The buildings for graduating and boiling the salt
water are worth visiting. The saltworks produce
about 70,^000 hundred weight of salt every year.
Latterly the Nauheim waters, which are re
markable for their warmth and the quantity of gas
they contain, have begun to be employed medici
nally, — They are: the Riesensprudel of which
the temperature is 99° F,, the large Sprudel, the
little Sprudel, the Kurbrunnen and the Salzbrun-
nen. These wells are used both for drinking and
for baths, with such success as to justify the re
putation which Nauheim has obtained within the
last few years. A good many arrangements have
been made for the comfort of the sfrangers. There
are a great number of bathhouses and hotels, viz,
the European Hotel, Hotel Henkel, the Crown Hotel
etc. The Kurhaus, with ballrooms, gamblingrooras,
and conversationrooms is only opened in summer.
A new Kurhaus was begun in 1861 and probably
will be finished within the next few years. The
grounds of the Kurbaus extend to the Teichhaus,
which is abont Vi Engl, mile distant from Nauheim.

167

The Teichhaus is an inn which takes its
narae from a large pond, on the terraceUke bank
of which the house is built.
A fine point in the country is the Johannis
berg. On its top stands an old tower, the rem
nant of a church which formerly stood here. In
August 30th 1762 there was fought bere and on
the neighbouring heights a battle between the
Prussian and French armies. Tbe hill affords a
very fine view of the -beautiful Wetterau.
On the W. side of this hill is situated tbe
farm „Haselheck", formerly belonging to the Land
graves of Hesse-Homburg,
Schwalheim is situated an Engl, mile E. of
Nauheim. Tbe mineral spring issuing near Schwal
heim resembles in its contents that of Sellers; the
water is very refreshing and agreeable to the
taste, when drunk pure, but it can also be taken
with wine etc. The well was already known to
the Romans and whenever the well is thoroughly
cleaned there are found in the mud at the bottom
various Roman coins which were thrown in as
offerings to the benevolent sanative well.

Kronberg and Kronthal,
The little town of Kronberg is situated 9
Engl, miles S. of Homburg. It is frequently visited

168

both on account of its charming situation and the
interest attached to its ancient history.
At the N. end of the little town rises the
castle, which is said to have been built towards
the end of the 12th century and was inhabited by
the knights of Askeburne, as Royal Ganerbens.
From this they took the name Kronberg (B^one-
crown). In 1219 the family was divided into the
Wing-family and the Crown-liamily. Of the first,
the last male heir died in 1617, of the second in
1704. Although belonging to the lower nobility,
the knights enjoyed great esteem and were related
to the first families of the country. One of the
Kronbergs was Bishop of Worms, another was
General of the Teutonic order, a third was Elector
and Archbishop of Mayence. There is still to be
mentioned, Hartmuth, the elder, of Kronberg, the
friend ol Luther and Sickingen, and the most zeal
ous partisan of the reformation. In 1389 an
open feud broke out between tbe town of Franc
fort and the knights of Kronberg for a robbery
which had been committed on some Francfort ci
tizens — as was pretended. The 12th of May a
battle was fought in the fields near Soden, in
which the Kronberg knights, assisted by a troop
of horsemen of the Palatinate, who decided the
day, gained a most brilliant victory. Nearly 800
Francfort citizens were killed and the banner of
tiie town taken. Iu 1522 Kronberg was besieged

169

and taken by Landgrave Philip of Hesse and his
allies. The allies held the castle in comraon pos
session tiU 1523, when they ceded it altogether
to Hesse. Only as late as 1541 did the Kronber-
gers regain the possession of their property. Af
ter the extinction of the two families, Kronberg
fell to the Archbishoprick of Mayence and in 1803
to Nassau, — The older part of the castle has
fallen almost entirely to decay. There only re
main now the old tower, the newer part of the
castle with the knight'shall and other rooms and
the castle chapel. The top of the tower affords
an extensive view. In the castle is to be seen an
old painting, representing the above mentioned
battle, of which the account may be read under
neath in old rhyme. In the castle chapel is to be
seen amongst other things the torab of tbe above
cited Hartmuth (f Aug. 7th 1549) and his wife.
The figures have been removed. Also in the town-
church are several tombstones of former Lords of
Kronberg, but all of them more or less damaged
by rude vandalism.
A reraarkable tombstone, asserted to be that
of Raspar of Kronberg is to be jseen in the burying
place, S. of the town; it represents on a high pe
destal, a knight in full dress kneeling before the
cross. All is cut in stone and of the fuU size of life.
Th&ia! is; still to be mentioned that the order
of the templars had once a seat here. Remain*

170

of the buildings inhabited by them are still to be
seen in the old town-house and in the so called
,,rother Hof", a building adjoining the former.
Kronberg has lately become very well known
through its nursery-gardens for fruit-trees, which
are here cultivated and (or its culture of fruit, —
The knights of Kronberg brought, according to
tradition, the first chesnut-trees from the East to
this place and planted them here. The tate cler
gyman J, L. Christ (-f 1813) attained a deserved
reputation for promoting tbe cultivation of fruit
and the plantation of nursery-gardens, and Kron
berg is now surrounded on all sides by groves
of chesnut- and fruit-trees, as well as by regular
nurseries and gardens.
There are exported every year about 22,000
young fruit-trees, and in tolerably good seasons
there are sold 16,000 hundred weight of yellow
plums, 75,000, h. w, of apples, 25,000, h. w. of
chesnuts and the yearly value of this produce on
the average surpasses the sum of 100,000 fls.
The Inns are: Schiitzenhof, Nassauer Hof.
Kronthal lies in a valley, S. of Kronberg,
at a distance of 1 Engl, mile. The sanative springs
of the place were first thought of, when the late
Dr. Ktister in 1820 had drawn public attention to
them. The water of the three springs is used
both for drinking and for baths, and ha«r a gentle
dissolving, refreshing and reanimating effect. In

— 171 —
the neighbourhood of the springs stand the Kur
haus, and some hotels and bathhouses. Strangers
very often take lodgings in Kronberg, Although
all at Kronthal is on a small scale and the interior
of the houses, though neat and comfortable, is
very plain, yet the charming situation of the place
makes it a raost inviting residence for strangers
even for a prolonged stay. Nature and art cora-
bine in giving to the whole environs the appea
rance of a large garden.
One of the finest points in the neighbourhood
of Kronberg and Kronthal is the Hartberg which
coraraands a vcry picturesque view. At its de
clivity runs the way to Neuenhain and Soden
through the village of Mammolshain in the midst
of the forest.

KBnigstein and Falkenstein.
Eleven Engl, miles W. of Homburg rise the
remains of the old fortress of Konigstein, situated
on a rocky eminence of which three sides are
precipitous, and at its £. side is situated the little
town of the same name. '
The name of the place which appears in a
record of 1225 as „Kuningestein", may be derived
either from its having been a Royal foundation, or
from tbe name Kunego (Kuno), the name of some

— 172 —
early possessors. The counts of Niirings were
the first owners of the castle; after their extinction
(in 1174) it fell to the Lords of Miinzenberg, from
these in 1255 to the lords of Falkenstein and be
came thenceforth an Imperial fief Konigstein was
beseiged several times in the 14th century in dif
ferent feuds, and at last in 1374 it was taken by
storm by the knights of Reiffenberg. After the
extinction of the family of Falkenstein in 1418,
Konigstein Came by inheritance to the Lords of
Eppstein-Konigstein, and after the failure of their
line in 1538 to the counts of Stolberg. The
latter were deprived of their inheritance by the
archbishop Daniel of Mayence in 1581 and tbe place
long continued in the possession of the see. In
the French war of devastation Konigstein was
taken by Hessian troops in 1684; and in the Aus
trian war by French troops in 1745. In the
French revolutionary war the fortress surrendered
to the French general Custine, Octbr, 28th 1792
but as early as December the place was bombarded
by Prussian troops, but only surrendered in
March of the following year. In 1796 the fortress,
then occupied by Austrian froops, was taken again
by the French, who, when once more repulsed,
blew up the fortifications before their departure.
— The remnants of the fortress came into the
possession of Nassau in 1800.
Thc fortress was probably built af different

— 173 —
periods. From a tower which has been still pre
served, and in which by an order of the Duke of
Nassau a staircase has been made to the top, there
is a fine view over the neighbouring country.
The ruins have lately been surrounded by a pretty
park, to which, as a private ground the public is
not admitted. Hotels: Stadt Amsterdam, Lowen, both with
nice gardens, and Frankfurter Hof.
There is a cold-water-establishment, di
rected by Dr. Pingler, N, W. of Konigstein, lying
in the midst of the wood in the valley of the Bill.
The inner arrangements of the bathhouse is very
cheerful and comfortable. The number of visitors
is increasing every year; most of them live in the
little town and a good raany new buildings have
been erected for their accoraodation.
The castle of Falkenstein is situated a
short Engl, mile from Konigstein in the direction
of Homburg, On a steep conical rock, which rises
from the plain to a height of 1470 feet stand the
lonely ruins of what was once the seat of a rich
and powerful faraily. The castle is mentioned as
Nurings in the earliest ages and was held in feu
dal tenure by the ancient faraily of the counts of
Niirings. The counts of Nurings became extinct
in the male line in 1169, when the castle fell to
Munzenberg, and in 1255 to that branch of the
Lords of Bolanden, who from the castle of Falkenstein

— 174 -
in the Donnersberg had taken the name of Falken
stein , which by degrees was also transferred to
the caslle of A firings. The family of thc counts
of Falkenstein enjoyed a great influence. The fa
mily was divided in 1266 into two lines; one of
which became extinct in the male line in 1334,
the other in 1418, Falkenstein was up to the
13th century a fief of the empire; from that time
till towards the end of the l4th century not only
the Lords of Falkenstein , but at the same time
also the Lords of Bolanden and Sponheim, and
afterwards the latter alone had rights of possession
there. When in 1385 the Sponheim-Bolanden fa
raily had become extinct in the male line, Falken
stein fell to Nassau who enfeoffed it tiU the year
1773 to different noblemen in the neighbourhood.
In this time the castle underwent very varied for
tunes, particularly during the 30 years war. It
is probable that it was destroyed for the most
part about the year 1688. From that time it has
so much decayed that there only remains now the
half ruined tower and souie remnants of the sur
rounding walls. The ^iew from the place is one
of the finest fax and near. The entrance of the
castie is from the N. W. side of the hill.

175

Bad Soden,

Soden is situated 10 Engl, miles from Hom
burg. The way to it runs through Oberursel,
Hochstadt, and passes Kronthal.
Soden, as well as the neighbouring Sulzbach
was formerly a free Imperial village. From the
year 1282 however both the villages were bound
by an oppressive alliance to Francfort, In 1657
this alliance became a complete subjection to Franc
fort and the Electorate of Mayence. In 1803 both
the villages came to Nassau,
Soden owes its foundation and its name to
saltworks which formerly existed there. In re
cords of the year 773 two saltsprings are men
tioned here. There are now 23 mineral springs
in the place and its immediate neighbourhood.
They are medically eraployed against diseases of
the liver, lungs and chest.
For the comforts of the visitors and for their
recreation during their stay at the watering p. ace
there is no want of arrangements according to
the size of the village. The Kurhaus forras the
centre of social life. It contains some spacious
salons, some apartments and also a few baths.
Hotels: HoUandls^er Hof, Frankfurter Hof,
Nassauer Hof.
The villas on the highroad to Neuenhain are
charmingly situated in midst of greensward and

— 176 —
shrubs. Close by the Kurhaus-garden rises the
hill „Burgberg", which formerly bore the castle
of the knights of Sulzbach, of which every rem
nant has entirely disappeared and which is now
planted with vine.

The Lorsbach-valley.
The way to the Lorsbach-valley runs from
Konigstein by Schneidhain and Fischbach, Not
far from the latter place lies the church of SL John,
a much frequented place for pilgrimages,
A little beyond Fischbach we enter the Fisch-
bach-valley, the enfrance of which is forraed by
two mountains: the Rossert on the right and the
Staufen on the left. The Rossert, which offers
a beautiful view of the Rhinegau, may be mounted
from Konigstein by Ruppertshain. On its top
rises a mighty rock, which one may easily climb.
The Staufen is a Uttle less than the Rossert.
On the E. side of its broad ridge rises a rock of
a singular form, called the Mannstein which is
surrounded by an artificial rampart of earth; on
the S. E. side is another high rock, the Walterstein.
The valley running between the Rossert and
Staufen goes near the Oelmiible (oil-mill) into the
Lorsbach-valley proper. From this place one has
still half an Engl, mile to tbe village of Eppstein.

— 177 —
Eppstein is an insignificant little old town.
On its N. side, on a rocky eminence, rise the
ivy - covered ruins of the fortified castle of the
sarae name, which, from its situation and archi
tecture may be called the finest of the simUar works
in our country, — The legend reports that the
knight Eppo, when out hunting, came to this val
ley, where he set free a lovely maiden from the
power of a knavish giant, skilled in magic, by
catching him in an iron net and throwing him
down frora the rock, so that his bones were dashed
to pieces in the precipice. The ransomed lady gave
hira her heart and her hand as a reward; they
settled here, built the castle and becarae the an
cestors of the Lords of Eppstein. A knight of
Eppstein is mentioned in 1122; the castle in 1124,
But only Gottfried I, who is mentioned in 1173,
can be stated with certainty, as the founder of the
rich and mighty family, who possessed half the
castle as a fief of the Empire, and the other half
(since 1124) as a fief of the Electorate of Mayence.
Five Archbishops of Mayence and one Patriarch
Of Jerusalem were raerabers of this family. Amongst
the first may be named Gerhard, who boasted that
he had the Emperors in his pocket. In 1433 the
family was divided into two lines: the Eppstein-
Munzenberg and Eppstein-Konigstein lines. The
last male heir of the former died in 1522, that of
tbe latter in 1535. As early as 1492 the half of
12

— 178 -
Eppstein had been sold to Hesse, the other inherited
by the Stolbergs who were deprived of this posses
sion by the all-^abserbing Electorate ol Mayence in
1581. Castle and town fell to Nassau m 1803. Half
the castle is now inhabited, and Mr. Habel, junior,
from Scbierstein, who is the present possessor, has
considerably embellished it. Besides this the town-
church is worth notice. There are now placed
around the walls a number of tombstones of the
Lords of Eppstein. In the chofr of the church is
a pretty niche in gothic slyle and in the windows
are two small glass^aintingts.
If one wishes to continue the way through
the Lorsbach-valley one must go from Eppstein
back to the Oelmiihle, from which place the valley
runs in a S. E. direction. Three quarters of an
bour'^ walk lead to Lorsbat^h, and at half an
hour's walk from this place the valley opens. Here
on the S. E. side is situated on a steep eminence
the Hofheim Chapel, This very old chapel, which
is visible from a great distance, affords a splendid
view of the Maingau and Rhinegau,
At the end of the LorsbachTvalley 2 EngL
miles from Liursbach Ues the little town of Hof
heim, and a good Engl, mile farther the villago
ef Hattersheim, where people, who come from Hom^
burg, genetaUy ttike their way home by tiie Tauf
nus-'RailWay.

179

Jl^f NW4arC«uptry.
The Nidda descends from the Vogelsberg and
near Assenheim enters the district we intend to
describe. Grossli^rb^n (7 E^gl- wU^s from Homburg)
is HPQWn by tb? ^li^efal-w.aters, which rise in its
p?ighb.Qjirhood. "I'bey are: the SQhlbrunnfsn , tbe
LudwjgsbrWAfifl arid th? Selserforiinneii, The water
of tbe la^t is ^cry refreshing and is often sold
as l^elters-wstcF. At th? side of this ^ell and
i^fisp by tbe station of the Main-Weser-R,?ilway
stsnils a KurhQiIs? -vvifb rooips for sfrangers,
Vilbel (5 Engl, miles fropi Bo»burg) Uke
wise lies near a station pf the M. W- Railway.
The boroiUgh is nientioued as ppf'Iy f^s the 8th
mnt'&xy. N, of thp plags, 3t th? right bank of the
Nidda are the reipsiins %f a fornicr castle, lyvhicb
was bftri^d down by the French in 1796r A fa
mily of knights, living at Vilbol f|n<d fleriving th?jr
nape from the placs appears in the be,glBRing of
tim 13tb and bpca«« jex.tiapt in the l^'th een tory.
They cansisted &r the »OiSt pwt of higbjyajrw^p.
-rrr A Ift^o £.01030 S(?ttiempnt seeros -tP hjii^ .stood
jiear Vjlbsl? a magnifippnt mpnaic floor fonn<l Unrfi,
now idecjwraites ithe musepm of Papjnstaidit. Tbe
mineralnspmng whif^ issjws p«ar VUhiel is an ex-
etilmt beyearqge.

180

Bergen (10 EngL miles from Horaburg) does
not belong to the Nidda-counfry, but being situ
ated in its immediate neighbourhood, it must also
be briefly mentioned here. The little town was
founded, as excavations prove, upon a Roman
station and is mentioned as early as tbe 8th cen
tury. Since the year 907 it is mentioned as the
chief-place of the county of the Bornheimer Berg,
On the W, side of the town is situated the very
old castle of the faraily of ,,Schelm von Bergen",
celebrated in lay and tradition. This family ap
peared in 1194 and its last male heir died in 1844.
The castle now forms a part of the estate of Mr,
Kalbhenn, ¦ — The inn, at the sign of: „Sch6ne
Aussicht" offers indeed a delightful view far over
hills planted with vines to the Main-coounfry.
Another nice point of view is the watch-tower of
Bergen, between this place and Vilbel. From the
tower one overlooks the field of dattle on which
Ferdinand of Brunswick was repulsed by the Duke
of Broglio, AprU 13th 1759.
Bonames (5 EngL miles from Homburg) is
situated on the highroad, which leads from Hom
burg to Francfort. The viUage may have been
built on the remains of some Roman settlement,
and people derive its name, which appears in re
cords of the year 1030, as Bonamese, of bona
messis. There was formerly here a Royal seat
and a castle which, during the 30 years war was

181

inhabited for some time by Gustavus Adolphus,
but which has now disappeared without leaving
any traces. A castle-like building has now risen,
close to the bridge over the Nidda, which has a
very cheerful aspect.
At a distance of 2 Engl. mUes S. W. of Bo
names is situated the borough of Heddernheim,
which may be visited from Homburg by the way
of Kahlbach. Between this place and the village
of Praunheun, which is situated about 1 Engl,
mile farther off, lies the most important Roraan
station of our counfry.
This station, which is called in the inscription
of a stone found at that place: „Vicus novus",
lies at the right bank of the Nidda on a gently
rising elevation. The whole disfrict, now culti
vated, covers about 300 acres. At the E. side
stood the castellum, and on its W. side the town
whose principal and side sfreets followed in their
direction the form of the casteUuin. These streets,
the gates, the stroug crenellated wall surrounding
the town , the market-place , the forum and the
burying-ground, situated near Praunheim have been
severally verified by .. the Antiquarian Mr, Habel,
and have been described in the annals. oi tbe Nassau
society for arcbraology and bistory. Most remark^
able are the two Mithras - temples , excavated in
the interior part of the town, Tbe two large
stone-tables , which were then found, decorated

— 182 —
with most curious engravfAgs concerning the
Mithrail Worship are now at Wiesbaden, The size
of this littie wtfrk does not allow us to speak more
Of tho other valuable discoveries made at these ex
cavations. In 1858 there was discovered here a
stone^bridge, built by fhe Romans, whose rtCk^like
pillttrs -v^ite still Slabdiiig tindet the suffaCb Of the
wafer. RodClbeihi, at a station of the Homburg Rail-
Way is a ilitjeiy btillt VUlftgfe through which the
Nidda flows. The plaCe ii first mentioned in a
record of the year 788. The castle Was an Impe^
M\ fief and Was given ts silch to differeht knightly
lamllie^ of the neighboiirhood. Towards the end
of the l5th 6ehtni-y the Citstle with appurtenances
lell through marriage tind inheritance to the counts
of Solnis-Rodelheim to whom it stiU belongs (since
1806 iinder the Sovereignty of HesSe'^Darmstadt,}
The caStle is now ocCtipied by a private ladies-
sChodl, which erijoys great reputation. The pi'etty
castie-garden, laid otit in the last century, ahd
different othei- large pleasui^e^grOtinds in or about
the Village greatly embellish it.
Hochst, a stiition of the TaunUS-^Raihv&y, si
tuated at the confluence of the Nidda iind the Mbin,
is distiant 11 Etigl. OiUes frOU Itothburg. The
plade is mentioned as early as 79D as Hosted, and
forkned in 1255 a part Of the cOnfedetation of Rhe
nish towns. The castle still t^niaining as a tuift

183

was stormed in 13% by the Kronberg knights and
burned down. In 1404 it was rebuilt again, but
in 1635 again blown Up by the Swedes. In this
war Christian von Braunschweig was signally de
feated in the neighbourhood of tiiis place, June,
10th 1622, by the superior fbrces of the Imperial
general TiHy, The very old church, which was
decayed as early as 1090 and then restored, is
worth notice. The choir is of the 15th century.

Francfort.

The dty of FrahcfOrt lies at a distance of 10
Engl, miles fronk Hombui^. The railway conveys
the passengers there in little more than Vi hour.
It cannot enter into our views to give here
a detailed description of the bistory of Francfort,
of which good and well known histories already
exist. We only intend to add a few remarks, —
Charlemagne sojourned here in the year 793, aod
Francfort is first called a Rbyal Plalatium in 794,
The city seems to have been founded Only under
the reign of Lewis the Pious and Lewis the Ger^
man. It soon acqufred importance and power as
a free Imperial city and afterwards as the site of
the election and coronation of tiie Empterors, Frora
,1806 to 1813 it was the capital ofthe Grand-duchy
of Francfort, Since then it has become one of tbe

184

free cities of Germany and the seat of the Gerraan
diet, as well as of the German parliaraent, which
was assembled here from 1848 to 1849,
Francfort is the first mart of the interior frade
of Germany, The two fairs which are held here
enjoy a high reputation. The exchange is of the
greatest importance. The city has at present above
68,000 inhabitants, for the raost part of Lutheran
faith. There is no want of good descriptions of the
town and of the objects worthy of notice. We
therefore only raention the principal ones.
The Rorae r, the townhall, with the election-
rooms and the emperors'-hall, in which are exhi
bited the portraits of aU the Gerinan emperors,
painted by Lessing, Veil, Stilke, Steinle and others.
There is also preserved here tbe ,,goldene Bulle",
containing the fundamental laws of the German
Empire by the emperor Charles IV in 1356. It
is open every Monday and Wednesday (roin 11
to 1 o'clock.
The Cathedral was probably built between
873 and 876. The church contains the chapel of
election and the sepulchre of Gun ther of Schwarzburg.
The church of St. Paul, in which the Ger
man parliaraent held its sessions frora 1848 to 1849,
The new Synagogue, situated in the Jews'-
street, is a magnificent building in the moresque
wtvie of architecture.

185

The Exchange, close by St, Paul's church
is very handsome both as to the interior and ex
terior decorations of the building.
The other buildings worthy of notice are: The
church of St. Nicholas, a monuraent of pure Gerraan
architecture; the Saalhof, probably the site of the
Saia or Imperial palace of Emperor Lewis the Pious;
the Fiirsteneck; the BraunCels; the steinerne Haus
at the market-place; Goethe's birth-house at the
grosse Hirschgraben; Borne's birth-house in the
Jews' street. The monuraents are:
Goethe's raonument, by Schwauthaler, cast by
Stigehnaier and Miller; the Gutenberg-Schoffer-
Fust-monument by v. Launitz, the galvanoplastik
by Kress in Offenbach; the Hessian monument,
situated at the Friedberger Thor, and erected as
a memorial to the Hessian soldiers and their com
mander who took Fraiicfort by storm, Decbr, 2d,
.1792; the monument of Charlemagne standing on
the middle of the old bridge over the Main; the
monuraent of Guiollett whom Francfort has to
thank for the gardens surrounding it.
The town-library at the Ober-Main-Thor.
The collection contains 70,000 voluraes amoijgst
which are very rare and precious printed works,
manuscripts, maps, engravings in copper and in
wood, also coins, antiquities and objects of art from
Egypt and Greece. Goethe's, statue by Marchese

186

stftnds at the entrance. It is open on Tuesday
and Thursday from 11 — 12 o'clock, and on Wed
nesday and Friday from 2 — 4 o'clock.
The picturc gallery, called Stadel'sches In
stitut is situated in the neue Mainzergasse near
the Homburg Railway-Station. It contains an im
portant Collection of pictures of old and new ma
sters, to which are joined a collection of casts,
another of copper^-engfaviiigs and a Ubrary. It is
open^ with exception of Saturdays every day from
10—1 o'clock.
V. Bethmann's museum is near the Fried
berger Thor. The chief ornaments of this museum
ute the famous Ariadne by Danneeker and the
Alexander-procession by Tborwttlsen. It is open
daily from 10 — 4 o'clock.
Senken berg's museum, near the Eschen-
heimer Thor. The natural historical collection ex
hibited here is very considerable. Adjoining it
are an anatomical theatre and a botanical ^rden.
It is open every Wednesday from 2 — 4, and every
Friday from 11 — 1 o'citick, but during the two
fairs every day.
Besides these are the exhibitions of the .,neue
Kunstverein" , the zooplastic and oriental cabinet
in the Gallengasse, the Diorama at the Taunus-
square etc.
The zoological garden at tiie Bockenheim
highroad i6 one of the finest on the continent

187

It is open with the exception of Thursday after
noon, daily from 6 o'clock in the morning till
late in the evening.
The burial-ground of Francfort, N. of the
towTi deserves to be visited on account of its ar
rangements and of its pretty sepulchres.

A
TABIiE
of the

circulating in
the different States of Germany,

and In

England, France, Belgium^
and Holland,
with their relative average value.

Average value of Coins.

English money.
L. s. i.

French monfy.
Fr. c.

Prus sian
money.
Thlr. ngr

South-
perman au pieil
lie 24 fl.
Flor. kr.

Austriansil.-mny. au pied
de 20 fl.
Flor. kr.

ENGLAND, Gold.
A Pound storl. or Sovereign — 20 shillings
Half Sovereign  Silver.
Crown 
Half-Crown 
Florin 
Shilling — 12 pence 
FRANCE, BELGIDM, SWITZERLAND.
Gold.
French or Sardinian piece of 40 francs . .
French or Sardinian piece of 20 francs . .
Belgian piece of 25 francs 
Silver.
Piece of 6 francs 
Piece of 1 franc — 100 centimes (20 sous)
HOLLAND. Gold.
Piece of 10 florins 
Piece of 6 florins 
Ducat — 6 florins 60 cents 
Dutch gold is, even in Holland, no longer
received at the full value It was coined for,
it rises and falls according to the exchange.
Silver.
RlxdoUar - 2 fl. 50 c 

10 5 22 1

12 16

16 89

»'/.

25 12

20 10
12

SO

6 25
3 ; 12
2 50
1 25

40
20 25

38 19

30

10 S

20 10
202520 10

2010
20 10 8

15
22'/. 5

12

11 52 1
1

18 9
11

40

9

50

4

55

2

27

1

10

—

35

—

40

15

20

7

40

9

20

1

28

— ¦

38

7

49

3

32

4

30

2

Florin or guilder = 20 stulvors or 100 cents
Piece of 5 stulvers or a quart-florin , , .
ADSTRIA, Gold.
Imperial Sovereign 
Imperial Ducat  Silver.
Imperial (Conventions) thaler 
Silver-Florin — 60 kreuzers 
Zwanziger 
Zehner  ,. . .
Secliser . . . . ^ 
BATARIA. WDRTTEMBERG. BA9EN.
GRANDDUCHY OF HESSE. FRANKFURT,
Silver.
Crowntlialer (grosse Thaler) 
Piece of 2 Pruss. thalers — 3'/j gulden . .
Florin or gulden "Z. 60 lireuzers ....
Half-florin — 30 kreuzers 
Piece of 6 batzen rr 24 kr. (often marked 20 k r.)
Piece of 3 batzen = 12 kr. (often marked 10 kr.)
Piece of 6, 3 and 1 kreuzer 
PRUSSIA. Gold.
Double Frederlckd'or 
Frederickd'or  Silver.
Piece of 2 thalers — 60 silbergroshen . .
Thaler — 30silbergroslicn ~ 24 goodgrosheu
Piece of 10 siibergr. (marked 3 einen Tlialer)
Piece of 5 siibergr. (often marked 4 groslien
Piece of 2'/i siibergr, (marked 12 einen Thaler)
One silbergrosch«n =12 pfennig , . , ,

14
17 6
3 1

! 8

2

15



17

1





50

5"

—

50

—

4

—

15



12

3

35

50

9

13

16

30

13

45

6

12

—

3

5

5

32

4

36

5

15

1

10

2

24

2

—



2

50



20

1

10

1

—

8

86



6»/.

—

24

—

20

4



43



3'/,



12

—

10

2'/.

—

25



2

7

~

6

7

5

81

1

16

2

42

2

15



7

50

2



3

30

2

54

8

2

15

17
1
—
—
50
10
1
7

8'/,
—
30
—
25
8
86

6'/.
—
24
—
20
4
—
43
—
3'/,
~
12
10
42
50
11
10
19
50
16
32
—
21
25
5
20
9
55
8
16
7
50
2
_
3
30
2
54

3
75
1

1
45
1
27
\
1
25
10

35
—
29
6

62

5
—
17
—
15
3

31

2'/,
—
8'/.
—
7'/.
1'/.
—
12'/.
—
1
—
3'/.
—
3
Druck von G. F. Seifl'ert in Homburg.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY