Eichelbacher Hof Castle (Rod an der Weil)

The Eichelbacher Hof is a former Renaissance moated castle of unknown noble affiliation, located in the district of Rod an der Weil in the municipality of Weilrod in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hesse, about 60 kilometers north of Frankfurt am Main and about 50 kilometers northeast of Wiesbaden.

The Eichelbacher Hof is situated, surrounded by extensive low mountain range forests of the Taunus, in the eastern Hintertaunus in the headwaters of the Eichelbach, a western left tributary of the Weil. West of the Eichelbacher Hof rise the Stückelberg (510 m) and the Kuhbett (526 m), on whose eastern flank, slightly above the Hof, the historic Rennstraße passes. The village of Hasselbach is approximately two kilometers further north, and Rod an der Weil and Cratzenbach are each three kilometers away to the northeast and east, respectively.

A medieval tower castle, protected by a palisade, was first mentioned in 1213. It served to protect one of the busiest high roads through the Taunus, the Rennstraße. The surrounding area belonged to the County of Weilnau, and after 1326 to the Counts of Nassau. A documentary mention of the Reinberg zu Eichelbach family, who owned property here, is attested in 1339. Until 1615, with the extinction of this line, the Eichelbacher Hof always remained in family possession.

The tower castle, whose military insignificance became apparent in the mid-14th century, was demolished, and no structural remains are present today. Slightly further south in the valley, a stately four-winged complex, a moated castle with four corner towers, was erected. It is exemplary of a rural noble residence of the late Middle Ages.

The robber knight Friedrich von Hattstein, later city captain in Limburg, conquered Eichelbach Castle in 1353 – he ambushed Siegfried von Reinberg during his wedding celebration – and occupied it for four years. Hattstein threatened and plundered travelers and merchants on the once busy section of the Rennstraße between Camberg, Hasselbach, and Rod an der Weil. A chronicle states that "the road" soon became "quiet and deserted," "so that grass grew as in a good meadow." Farmers in the surrounding villages were also not spared. It was not until 1357 that Siegfried von Reinberg succeeded in recapturing his property.

In 1568, the still existing part of the castle, the manor house, was renovated. After the death of the last Reinberger (Marquart von Reinberg) in 1615, the Eichelbacher Hof fell to Nassau-Weilburg, the estate was no longer used, and already in 1642 it was said to be half-ruined.

After various enfeoffments, Prince Wilhelm Heinrich zu Nassau-Usingen bought the castle in 1706. Around 1776, the sale of larger estates diminished the property. In the same year, the Nassau Senior Forestry Office took up its seat here (until 1880), for which purpose the east wing was restored. Afterwards, farmers again leased the Hof, and in the years around 1920, it again served the forestry station.