Burg Hoherod

Burg Hohenrod stands on the Schlossberg above Sasbachwalden in the Ortenaukreis. The ruined hilltop castle reaches 760.6 metres above sea level. It overlooks the Black Forest valleys from its exposed site. The site was first mentioned in 1197 when Burkhard von Hohenrod appeared in a treaty with the Margrave of Baden. The family soon left the exposed keep for the milder seat at nearby Schloss Rodeck. By the 16th century the castle had been abandoned and left to decay. The ruins still show parts of the shield wall built to protect the inner ward. Lightning struck the wall in 1824 and again in 1899, damaging it severely. Repairs around 1900 saved what remained of the medieval defences. Local tradition links the site to Saint Brigitta, patron of the parish church, giving the ruin its alternative name of Brigittenschloss. Historians such as Heiko Wagner and Joachim Zeune have recorded the castle’s story in detail. Visitors walk the grassy slopes to the summit where the shield wall rises above the treetops. The view stretches across the Ortenau to the Rhine plain. The quiet hilltop carries only fragments of the old walls and a sense of the site’s long past.