Kastelberg Castle

The Castellberg is one of the Black Forest foothills, as is the similarly vegetated neighboring peak called Fohrenberg, 432.3 m above sea level, located about 1 km as the crow flies north of the Castellberg. A circular path about 2.5 km long leads around the Castellberg. The panoramic circular path around the Fohrenberg, however, measures about 6 km in length. The Castellberg summit is a nature reserve and covers about 10 hectares. It is forested, and the sunny south and west slopes of the Castellberg are vineyards. Viticulture has been documented there for over 1000 years. The vineyard areas have remained largely the same since and through Margrave Karl-Friedrich from 1784 to today. 16.5 ha of the vineyard area on the Castellberg is steep slope, the rest, 148.5 ha, is hillside. The soil is medium-heavy, consisting of sandy, calcareous loam. Grape varieties include Gutedel, Müller-Thurgau, Burgundy varieties, and Gewürztraminer.

Dry stone walls and partly relatively long, steep stone stairs can be found on the southern slopes of the mountain. The working group for nature and environment and the municipality in Ballrechten-Dottingen extensively renovated the dry stone walls and stairs, especially in 2009. Especially in the uncultivated area, rare "shrub and semi-dry grassland communities, such as downy oaks, spurge, bugle, columbine, daphne, wild service trees, and whitebeam" can be found. Also from the orchid family: bird's-nest orchid, military orchid, red and white helleborine, pyramidal orchid, marsh orchids, fly orchid, and common twayblade.

The praying mantis is said to be observable in late summer. There are often occurrences of rare bird species such as warblers, red-backed shrikes, and wrynecks. The Castellberg is well developed with paths and circular routes, in the vineyards with beautiful views of the surroundings.

A tourist highlight is the Court Oak at the hiking parking lot and forest playground at the Castellberg Hut, near the Castellhöfe, about 500 m northeast of the castle. The oak is over 400 years old and - because it is diseased - has been shortened to about 7 m in height and artistically designed by the Freiburg artist and wood sculptor Thomas Rees, using its natural forms (completion by May 1, 2007). "The trunk has a circumference of 7 m and a diameter of 2 m, the lower 2 m are hollow". Depicted are a hanged man, flanked by his executioner, a cross and a grieving woman, a waiting raven, and a dragon with a bifurcated tail, carrying the black souls away from the execution site, the spirit of the tree as a face on the east side, devil and snake, apple, chalice as biblical symbols, a winemaker reaching for grapes with his hand, as well as stairs, caves, gates, windows, huts, towers, and battlements at the top of the tree, as a reminder of the early settlement of the area by Celts and Romans with their fortifications and castles.