Burg Hohenhardt

Burg Hohenhardt, now called Hohenhardter Hof, stands on a low hill between the Wiesloch districts of Baiertal and Schatthausen. It began as a timber-and-earth motte built in the 11th century, later topped by a stone keep dated to about 1240. The surviving keep still shows early-Gothic windows and reused Romanesque lintels from the first stone phase. The site was once home to the Edelfreien von Hohenhart, first recorded in 1127 with Konrad von Hohenhart. After their line died out in 1270 the castle passed to the Palatinate and then to ministerial families such as the Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler. From 1828 the Freiherren von Gemmingen owned the estate until post-war land reform ended their tenure. Visitors walk around the raised motte and the restored keep that now forms part of the golf clubhouse. The surrounding farm buildings of the former manor house and the adjacent meadows belong to the 18-hole course laid out in the 1980s. The old manor itself serves as a guesthouse, while the surrounding gentle slopes and wooded edges offer quiet walks between tees and greens.