Manor Freienhagen (Dennhausen)

The Freienhagen estate, located on the Fulda opposite Bergshausen, was in landgrave ownership before it was used for agriculture. A farming cooperative manages it today.

Shortly before Christmas, the estate owner crossed the Fulda by ferry to give presents to the Bergshausen schoolchildren. The woman, though wealthy but dressed like a maid, carried small useful gifts and tickets for the Christmas fairy tales at the Kassel State Theatre. The Freienhagen resident was also well-disposed towards the church and the community. Thanks to her generous donations, a new bell could be acquired, and later the water network in Dennhausen was renewed.

Elisabeth Fischer, daughter of the famous Bremen shipowner Rickmers and grandmother of the current estate owner, was a socially minded woman. She kept her family on a short leash, however, "they had to prove themselves first," recounts her grandson. Together with her husband Felix-Michael, who came from Breslau, Elisabeth Fischer acquired the estate on the banks of the Fulda in 1897 from an American to manage it. For social obligations and theatre visits, the family also maintained a townhouse in Kassel.

In Freienhagen, mainly fruit and vegetables were cultivated. Around a dozen people worked on the farm, in addition to day labourers, household staff, gardeners, and a chauffeur. The latter had been provided to his daughter by the Bremen shipowner, along with an automobile. Both, as the current lord of Freienhagen, Felix von Hertell, recounts, were made available to Kaiser Wilhelm II during his visits to Wilhelmshöhe, as he had left his own fleet in Berlin.

But that is not the only connection of the house to the monarchy. For a long time, Freienhagen, first mentioned in 1346 as the deserted Frienhayn, served as a landgrave's pleasure palace. In 1346, the brothers Otto and Hermann von Hund, as well as Otto and Albrecht von Holzhausen, sold Freienhagen to Landgrave Heinrich II.

Landgrave Moritz the Learned later built a court here, which he gifted to his wife Juliane. In 1651, the Hofmeister and First Lieutenant Hans-Heinrich Hund, known as Canis, bought the estate and rebuilt it.

After another change of ownership, it returned to landgrave hands in 1702. Landgrave Karl spruced up the court, turning it into a stately residence, which he connected by a driveway to the Karlsaue in Kassel, which he had created.

The showpiece of the time: an extensive park that stretched up the hill in terraces and which the Landgrave had laid out by, among others, fifty soldiers. With its old trees, the five-hectare park is still a gem, although it has long lost its original form. Instead of an armada of gardeners, the lord of the manor alone takes care of the grounds. "The park has become my hobby," says Felix von Hertell.

With his wife Barbara, he managed the farm from 1955 to 1992, an operation with 160 hectares, half forest, half arable land, which also included the riding stable on Dennhäuser Straße. First as a tenant, later as the owner of Freienhagen. The predecessor had taken all the auxiliary staff with him, except for a Russian named Allim, who had been on the farm for a long time and took care of the cow shed, and another man. The already elderly Allim remained in Freienhagen until his death.

Felix von Hertell, who had gained professional experience in Switzerland and Sweden, gradually modernized the operation. He abolished cattle farming, specialized in grain cultivation, and bought agricultural machinery. Today, the estate is managed by his son and son-in-law in a farming cooperative.

Until the construction of the A44 Fulda bridge over the Fulda, the family primarily associated peace and security with the house. "At times, four generations lived here," recounts the lady of the house and mother of five children, who has been involved with the rural women's association for years. Freienhagen always seemed to everyone "like a warm nest next to the city."