The Schlossmühle in Reifenthal
We hike for just under half an hour, then we approach Schloss Reifenthal. A castle? Where could it be? We see a handful of houses, but nowhere anything resembling a stately castle building. Inquiries in Reifenthal do not get us much further. But there must have been a castle here, as it is so deeply rooted in the consciousness of the old people that it cannot be based on mere imagination or just a legend. Then we find confirmation in old records from the archives and in specialist literature. The castle expert "Werner Bornheim called Schilling" tells us that Schloss Reifenthal was a long-lost castle-like structure, of which only a few meager wall remnants remain on the eastern slope above the passing Hunsrückhöhenstraße. The construction of the lost castle is attributed to the Counts of der Layen. They also built the Schlossmühle, which was colloquially called the Count's Mill. In the state main archive in Koblenz, there are still lease contracts from the 17th and 18th centuries, with which the counts granted the milling rights to tenants. Johann Morschhäuser, an ancestor of the current owner Mathilde Escher, was a miller for the Layen lords and later bought the Schlossmühle from them for 300 thalers.
In Reifenthal, we must cross a very busy road, the Hunsrückhöhenstraße (B 327), with the necessary caution, built at breakneck speed in 1937/38 for the military buildup against France in the terrible, senseless war. Today, the road has a peaceful character. It begins in Koblenz at the Rhein-Mosel-Eck and leads through the beautiful Hunsrück landscape to Saarland. It also serves as an access road for Baybachtal hikers, with a parking lot located near Reifenthal. There, one can park their vehicle to quickly immerse themselves from the restless traffic into the silence and tranquility of the valley.
Excerpt from the book "from mill to mill" a hike through the Baybachtal, available for 9.00 euros at the Tourist Information Emmelshausen.
