"Zabelstein" - highest hill of Steigerwald forest

Enjoy a great view from the lookout on the 480 m hill Zabelstein to the Main valley. In a wooden lodge You can have a hiking picnic of Your brought franconian delicacies.

The knights of Zabelsteim

Once upon a time the powerful house of Zabelstein lived on the hill. They protected important  documents and the treasures of the Bishop of Würzburg. Around 1300 the house of Zabelstein died out. The forceful and well-fortified castle was destroyed in the Peasant War in 1525, too. Rebuilt 50 years later, the castle burnt down again in the 17th century. Today You will find worked castle rocks with emblem in house walls of the surrounding villages. The destroyed castle was afterwards a good stone quarry for the villagers.

Fun Fact

Why did the House of Zabelstein got destincted?  On Christmas Eve the castle is haunted. Every year You can hear dirges. Once the knight of Zabelstein did unwittingly promise the devil his own child. The knight threw is daughter down the high castle walls by himself, before the devil could catch the child. The knight got haunted by his ancestors and his child's ghost. The last knight of Zabelstein desperately jumped of a castle tower and died, too.