Forest route

The woodland to the east of the A661, facing Offenbach, is part of the Frankfurt city forest. A species-rich mixed forest grows on moist, nutrient-rich soil with a high proportion of sand. The northern 20-hectare sections of the forest bear the name "Eichlehen". The old, stately oaks were planted around 1845. Not much younger are individual hornbeams, beeches, ash trees, elms, pines and North American Weymouth pine. Young beech trees stand between the older trees. Frankfurt's city forest is used exclusively for climate protection and recreation.

In 1979, an 11 centimeter high statuette of Mercury was found at the Buchrain pond. It could have been an offering or a talisman and was sunk in the pond in Roman times. The young man depicted is wearing a winged helmet, a laurel wreath and is probably holding a purse: attributes of Mercury, the messenger of the gods. He was a popular Roman god, as he was responsible for trade, merchants, income and wealth as well as thieves and swindlers. The small statue can be viewed in the House of City History.

The round depressions scattered around the area with a diameter of up to 10 meters are bomb craters from the Second World War. In the forest south of Offenbach, as in other places outside the settlement areas, a "false flak position" was set up to distract and deceive Allied bombing units. The large accumulation of bomb craters is proof of a certain success of this defense strategy, although the massive destruction in the city could not be prevented.

With 104 known burial mounds, the largest prehistoric group of burial mounds in Offenbach extends from here in a northerly direction along the Langschneide in the "Alter Hegwald" forest district. Grave finds point to the Hallstatt period (800 to 450 BC).
Celts were probably the first settlers in the Offenbach area (800 to 50 BC). Their settlements were built along the most important long-distance route from the Mainz Rhine crossing via Kelsterbach and Offenbach to the Steinheim Main crossing. Numerous groups of burial mounds in the Frankfurt and Offenbach forests and at the Käsmühle still mark their course today. The mixed deciduous forests there provided a favorable habitat for both shepherds and hunters. This explains the "Heg" part of the name. Some of the burial mounds still have respectable dimensions, while others have been destroyed and eroded.

The Offenbach state forest is owned by the state of Hesse. Mainly old pine trees grow here, together with younger beech trees. The primary goal is economically, ecologically and socially balanced, sustainable forest management. Implementation is not always easy. The forest's utility, protective and recreational functions often compete with each other. In the meantime, forest development is no longer carried out according to superficial economic considerations. The ecological value, especially of beech, cannot be overemphasized in the Rhine-Main conurbation. A beech tree produces 20 kg of oxygen per day and absorbs 20 kg of carbon dioxide at the same time.

The Wildhof excursion restaurant is around 3 km away. Built around 300 years ago as a hunting lodge, it once belonged to the Teutonic Knights. The surrounding forest, together with the Hainbachwald, formed the hunting grounds. On the occasion of the coronation of Joseph II as German-Roman king in Frankfurt Cathedral in 1764, Emperor Franz I stayed at the Wildhof and met the elderly Landgrave Ludwig von Hessen there.

During World War II, there was a mock anti-aircraft position on the way to the Wildhof east of the highway bridge. Its route was filled with flammable materials and barrels of pitch, which were to be ignited electrically. Fire and incorrectly placed target markings with smoke signals were intended to mislead the Allied air units. They were to drop their bomb load on uninhabited areas and spare the actual settlement areas. After the war, parts of the mock airfield were built over with the A3 highway.

In predominantly Catholic areas, they are still common today: Wayside crosses, stone crosses and wayside shrines bear witness to the piety of our ancestors, and sometimes also to gratitude. They also served as signposts for travelers and traders at a time when roads were poor and mostly unpaved.

The white cross once marked the intersection of two historic roads: the south-eastern route from Frankfurt via Heusenstamm to Aschaffenburg met the south-western route from the crossing of the Main at Steinheim via Bieber and Sprendlingen to the Rhine crossing at Mainz Weisenau. Today's cross was donated by Offenbach hiking clubs in 1926.

A settlement from the Iron Age is thought to have been located on a hill here on the Hainbach. The mixed deciduous forests on tertiary limestone layers and red soils provided a favorable habitat for both pastoralists and hunters. Since then, archaeological finds from all eras have shown settlement in the area. Nevertheless, it is not always possible to clearly assign the traces of earlier life and to determine the extent of the historical settlements. What is clear, however, is that the oldest settlement sites of the prehistoric village of Bieber are located to the south-east of the Bieber district.

The agricultural structure of the city of Offenbach is much more characterized by valleys and bodies of water than it appears. Most of them are completely piped within the urban area. Outside the forest, however, the valleys can be seen. Along the forest route, the Buchraingraben, the Hainbach and the Bieber are encountered from the west and east. While the headwaters of the Buchraingraben lie in Frankfurt's city forest, the Hainbach has its source on the other side of Offenbach's city limits at the Dreiherrenstein in Gravenbruch. From there, it meanders in a natural and meandering streambed. Thanks to the renaturation of large sections, it now flows as a near-natural stream as far as the Spessartring.
The Bieber has its source "Am grünen Born" near Dreieich and runs via Dietzenbach and Heusenstamm to the Offenbach-Bieber district of the same name. The stream continues through the Bieber district at the Käsmühle mill towards Mühlheim, where it flows into the Rodau.

On the path over the bridge, you will reach the August Reiss oak near the Pechschneise. It is overgrown with bushes. The trunk is several meters thick, almost 2 m in diameter and over 40 m high, making it the oldest tree in Offenbach. The stately oak was planted around 1590 and has been designated a natural monument. It was named after the forester August Reiß, who was the forestry inspector of the "Fürstliche Isenburgischen Waldungen" between 1874 and 1927.

Offenbacher Arbeitswohlfahrt operates the Hainbachtal non-profit workshops, which enable disabled people to participate in working life, on the site in the city forest alongside the restaurant. The workshops were founded in the 1970s and provide work opportunities in the areas of catering, retail, gardening, laundry, assembly, carpentry and more. With several hundred disabled and non-disabled employees, they are one of the larger medium-sized companies in the city and district of Offenbach.

Over the course of its existence, the Workers' Welfare Association, which was founded in 1919 as part of the labour movement, has developed into a modern welfare organization that is active in all areas of social work. In Offenbach, more than 120 permanent employees and volunteers look after the welfare of Offenbach's citizens.

The 50 burial mounds on the Hainbachskopf are located on both sides of the Müllerweg. The oldest graves are probably from the Middle Bronze Age (1600 to 1300 BC). Later reburials often resulted in further elevation or lateral backfilling. Burial mounds are always an indication of human settlements.

The Offenbach city forest is owned by the city of Offenbach. It has been used for forestry purposes for more than 300 years and is managed by the Offenbach forestry department. Three forestry workers take care of the forestry operations on site. Pine trees account for 56 percent of the 1258 hectares of forest. They are best adapted to the sandy, sometimes damp and sometimes dry locations in Offenbach's municipal forest. Other tree species are beech (30 percent) and oak (12 percent). Local recreation plays an important role in Offenbach's city forest and there are benches, hiking trails, bridle paths and restaurants.

The Bieber, which is around 17 kilometers long, has its source near Dreieich-Götzenhain at the foothills of the Messel hills. With its valuable wet meadows and wetlands, the floodplain is an important cold air circulation area. The Bieber flows underground through the Offenbach district of the same name before joining the Rodau in Mühlheim.

A farmer noticed an accumulation of limestones while ploughing in 1979. After closer examination, they turned out to be parts of a cremation trench in which the dead were buried after being cremated. The Struthäcker cemetery from the late Bronze Age (1200 -750 BC) and later Iron Age (450 BC - birth of Christ) was uncovered. A special feature was the discovery of a well-preserved amulet from the late Bronze Age in a stone box. The 1.8 x 4.5 centimetre amulet, which was artfully formed from a bronze wire in a human-like shape, was said to have powers to bring good luck and ward off danger.

The "Erlensteg von Bieber" nature reserve is protected because of its valuable wet meadows, the riparian areas overgrown with acid grasses and the rare forest communities and fallow land. The area is a habitat for endangered animal and plant species. In the open, damp meadow landscape, for example, the broad-leaved orchid, a purple-flowering orchid, grows. In the southern, wooded part, the Bieber river flows through the nature reserve. The near-natural alder swamp forests that accompany it are among the most ecologically valuable parts of the approximately 70-hectare area, which was declared a nature reserve in 1996.

The path leading diagonally into the Bieber forest 50 meters away dates back to Roman times. Old cobblestones can be found in the forest, but their origin is still unclear. Between Waldhof and Bieber there is evidence of a "Villa rustica" and a burial ground. A "villa rustica" is the name given to a country estate in the Roman Empire. It was located not far from an old Roman road and was the center of a farm. Within a walled courtyard there was usually a main building and several farm and outbuildings. The estates were farmed by members of the army.

The Bieber Forest belonged to Bieber until its incorporation in 1938. It stretches from the railroad line south to the A3 and is the remnant of a forest belt that surrounded the clearing island of Bieber for centuries and separated it from the surrounding settlements. The forest once consisted of 4/5 deciduous forest, predominantly beech and oak. Due to the fact that it belonged to the Biebermark until 1819, when the marquis often exploited the forest without taking care of reforestation, the soil was barren and desolate. Around 1800, large-scale cultivation of the fast-growing pine began, which thrived best in the devastated Mark forests and promised greater economic success than hardwoods.

Located on the Waldroute, the Waldhof district was part of the formerly independent municipality of Bieber until it was incorporated into Offenbach in 1938. The name "Waldhof" goes back to the "Waldhof estate", which the Frankfurt citizen Bertarelli had built in 1829. The estate was, so to speak, a farm in the forest. Nothing remains of the estate, it was destroyed in 1944. The residential area from the 1970s, in which around 4,000 people live, is still embedded in the forest to the north and south.

Like the neighboring Bieber Forest, the Mühlheim Forest was also part of the Biebermark and suffered the same devastation. When it was dissolved, large parts fell to the town of Mühlheim. Today, 753 hectares are overgrown with forest. The most important tree species here is also the pine.
In addition to its importance for recreation, the Mühlheim forest is important for soil, water and air. As a water reservoir, it contributes to flood protection and prevents soil erosion. Air pollution is filtered out and noise pollution is reduced.

The cheese mill was first mentioned in a document in 1576. Water from the millrace, which was built at the time, drove the mill wheels. Grain was ground and millet was hulled. Around 1801, the mill was extended to include a so-called roller mill for crushing linseed, rapeseed and oil fruits. This was important as there were no other oil mills in the surrounding villages. Flax and linen were important raw materials for the production of linseed oil-based paints and wood preservatives. At the beginning of the 20th century, an inn was set up in the mill for the first time. Today it is a popular place for outings.

On the left-hand side, 50 meters away from the green wooden post with the number 20, the remains of a historic lime kiln have been found. The foundations of two kilns and a large number of limestone chunks are evidence of this production site. The production of quicklime from limestone is one of the oldest technical production processes. The limestone was first burned at temperatures between 900 and 1200 degrees Celsius and then further processed with water. The result was a versatile building material such as lime paint, lime mortar or hydraulic lime. Wood, peat and coal were originally used as fuels.

If you follow the narrow path into the forest, you will come across the remains of a long, low rampart. Old oak trees point to the culturally and historically significant ground monument first mentioned in 1435. Wood anemones and larkspur bloom here in spring. However, there are no longer any historic boundary stones of the Landwehr.

Up until the late Middle Ages, land defences were used to demarcate the boundaries of manorial areas or to delimit fields and woodlands. They prevented the unwanted intrusion of people and animals. The simplest system consisted of dense hedges. These could also be laid out on a rampart. Additional ditches created a protective wall that was almost impossible to overcome. The Rodgau or Kurmainzer Landwehr runs from Rodgau past Rembrücken or Heusenstamm through Bieber to the Main between Rumpenheim and Mühlheim.

The Offenbach district of Waldheim is also close to the Waldroute. The location of the settlement by the forest gave Waldheim its name. The Waldheim country house colony was founded in 1911. "An den Eichen" is a new district. It is only 200 meters away and is home to around 1200 people.

The oak tree is a symbol of the city of Offenbach. The city coat of arms symbolizes a silver oak tree with five acorns on a blue background. It refers to the former imperial forest of Dreieich (Drei-Eichen), to which Offenbach and half of the Rhine-Main region belonged in the Middle Ages.

In the direction of the view, around 300 meters away, some remaining sloes and hewn stones mark an important former border. Until 1866, this was the border between the Electorate of Hesse and the Grand Duchy of Hesse. The letters "GH" and "KH" carved in red sandstone on the boundary stones stand for "Grand Duchy of Hesse" and "Electorate of Hesse". To distinguish it from the former Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, which was elevated to the status of Grand Duchy of Hesse by Napoleon, the former Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was subsequently referred to as "Kurhessen". The Grand Duchy is therefore considered the predecessor of the federal state of Hesse, which was founded in 1945.

The Schneckenberg is an artificial elevation which, at 179 meters above sea level, is the highest point in Offenbach. There are numerous limestone deposits in this area, which also includes the Bieberer Berg. A lime-rich humus has formed here over many decades and a warmth-loving mixed oak forest grows with numerous plant species and fungi that are rare for this area. It can be assumed that the Romans were already quarrying limestone on the Schneckenberg. The most extensive limestone extraction took place from 1947 to 1962 by the Grix company. The mountain probably owes its name to the massive occurrence of snails in the old pits of the lime works. The 18-metre-deep pit was later filled in with waste. Extensive restoration work was completed in 2005. The area has been cordoned off to protect the state of restoration achieved.

The 134-hectare Lohwald forest belonged to Rumpenheim until 1942, when it was incorporated into Offenbach. In the Lohwald, calcareous remains of old marine deposits come to the surface. A light, warmth-loving beech forest grows naturally on these urban sites. The name suggests this, as the Old High German word "löh" means "grove, clearing, bushes". The fact that the term "Lo" (later "Lohe") was also used for the oak bark indicates a greater prevalence of oak trees. In medieval oak forests, the bark of English oaks was peeled off in order to tan leather. Loh tanning was a precursor to the widespread production of leather goods in Offenbach.