Tracing Roman traces generally means encountering military legacies: sections of the limes, forts, watchtowers. Far rarer are the remains of civilian facilities, simply because they were completely cultivated, ploughed over or robbed of their stones. Many factors must therefore come together in order to get an idea of a country estate as they once covered the hinterland by the hundreds.
With what the excavators uncovered when laying a natural gas pipeline in 1979 near the Höchst district of Hummetroth in the Odenwald, one did not immediately think of a Roman villa. But in the order of four hectares, as it turned out, there was hardly anything comparable to the right of the Rhine.
It is true that people had known about the foundation walls since the early 19th century, whose hillside location had prevented cultivation. Miscarriages of justice and inadequate excavations, however, made them fall into oblivion. The early name "Haselburg" has remained in allusion to the area overgrown with hazel bushes.
Thanks to the changed awareness of monument preservation, no effort could be great enough to preserve the villa rustica after the unexpected pipe cut. A special process was developed so that the gas pipes could be laid under the foundations without excavation.
Everything designed for self-explanation
Research is one thing, making it effective for the public is another. The Haselburg Association, founded 40 years ago, earned great merits here. Guided tours, lectures and, last but not least, the maintenance contributed significantly to the popularization of the facility. Even signs on the federal highway 45 now show them.
Of course, everything on the spot is designed for self-declaration. The basic layout follows the patterns of representative, but here less luxuriously equipped rooms, to which the bath with its differently tempered basins and slightly offset from it the farm buildings adjoined. The proportions proved to be unusual.
Even the 130 square metre thermal baths had more capacity than most forts on the nearby Limes. Whether the plant was operated by a large landowner to supply the troops, like so many things, must remain open. It is possible that bricks were made, as indicated by numerous, freshly stamped ones. However, there was no evidence of ovens.
Did the landlord pay homage to Jupiter out of gratitude for economic success? The giant column recovered here was also unusually high at more than ten meters. One of the column drums, which initially came to the foyer of the Höchst Town Hall, found its way back to the Haselburg ten years ago on the occasion of the opening of a small information centre. Its architecture is based on ancient models. Rome lives – in the middle of the Odenwald.
Directions
At Höchst train station – there is also plenty of parking space on the forecourt – there are several signs available. For the staircase opposite, leading into a path between gardens and high railway embankment, none is needed. Only on the road does the yellow cross provide orientation from now on.
To the right, it passes under the high bridges of the railway and bypass (B 45) before it curves around the roundabout on the left side. Behind it, it accompanies the country road for a while and then turns left to the Oberhöchster Bach, which has been transformed into a biotope. With the left turn into the more open Annenbachtal it remains behind, replaced by mighty beech trees, but this does not change the asphalt surface. Even the passage in front of the soon reached village of Annelsbach is not free of it.
Once a popular holiday resort with four larger hotel restaurants, only the country inn "Sleeping Beauty" on the western edge has been preserved. The yellow cross leads past it. But you turn left into the access road beforehand. Now assisted by the combination Hu 2 (white), it goes behind the small hiking parking lot to the right into the fields. The path, furrowed by agricultural machinery, briefly brings forest into play with rising right and left bends, before it then goes along the edge of the tree and over open corridor to the country road.