Höhenried Castle

The current grounds of Höhenried Castle in Bernried were acquired in 1914 (Hofgrund Bernried, Gut Adelsried) and 1927 (Gut Höhenried) by Wilhelmina Busch, co-heiress of the Anheuser-Busch brewery, born in St. Louis in 1884, and her first husband, Eduard Scharrer from Stuttgart. The Busch-Scharrer couple initially bought the Postvilla in Bernried and enjoyed great social standing. After August Scharrer suddenly passed away in 1932, Wilhelmina Busch married her personal physician, Dr. Carl Borchard, in 1933, from whom she divorced a few years later.

She fulfilled her great dream of building a castle on the grounds in 1937. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated as early as February 1938, and in the summer of 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war, the castle with 60 rooms was completed. With the USA's entry into the war, Wilhelmina Busch moved her residence to Switzerland but kept her German passport.

The castle was confiscated in 1943. For two years, an orthopedic clinic was housed here for the first time.

Shortly before the end of the war, Mrs. Busch managed to evacuate the Swiss legations and the Geneva Red Cross to Höhenried, thus protecting the entire property from destruction. At the end of the war, the Americans confiscated Höhenried and left it in March 1946.

Wilhelmina Busch herself returned to Höhenried for the first time in autumn 1946 and married the American Consul General Samuel Woods in 1948, whom she had met in Switzerland in 1942. Due to Sam Woods' professional position, significant political and social events took place in Höhenried.

In the following years, the Busch-Woods couple had the approximately 600,000 m² park redesigned according to their plans, and, among other things, the Mississippi ponds and an enclosure with white fallow deer were built, which still exist today. In addition, the Busch-Woods family donated the Bernried National Park in 1950, an approximately 80-hectare area whose layout may no longer be changed. From 1952 onwards, this Höhenried Park was also opened for viewing.

Wilhelmina Busch-Woods died in Munich in 1952 due to heart disease and heart surgery. She was buried at Wilhelminen-Platz in Höhenried Park. Her husband, Sam Woods, died unexpectedly shortly thereafter in 1953; he was also buried in Höhenried. The inscription on the coffins reads: "Love never ends".

After the death of both, the assets passed to a community of heirs who had little interest in maintaining Höhenried Castle. Thus, the complex was put up for sale and was acquired on October 27, 1955, by the LVA Oberbayern (since October 1, 2005: Deutsche Rentenversicherung Oberbayern and since January 1, 2007: Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bayern Süd).

Initially, preventive cures were carried out at Höhenried Castle from 1958 to 1966. After extensive construction work, the Höhenried Clinic was opened in 1967; since then, Höhenried has been a rehabilitation center for cardiology. From 2003, the indication area of orthopedics was added, and from 2005, psychosomatics. In the course of renovation measures, the clinic was extensively renovated from 2003 to 2005.

On the grounds of Höhenried Castle is the Museum der Phantasie, better known as the Buchheim Museum.