Ober-Mörlen Castle

South of the Usa, on the northern edge of Ober-Mörlen, lies a former noble estate, which is traditionally known as the ancestral seat of the Counts of Ober-Mörlen. One of their numerous successors, the Lords von und zu Heese, erected the still dominant elongated two-story manor house in 1589, which, however, only received its characteristic transverse building with a curved gable during an extension in 1691. The builders of the 1691 extension, as well as the necessary restoration after the village fire of 1716, were the Imperial Barons von Wetzel, who took over the estate in 1683 and initiated a continuity of ownership that lasted until 1867.

Under the von Wetzels, the farmyard north of the manor house was also built in 1704. The farmyard and manor house were originally separated by the mill stream. The mill, located slightly further west, was originally also part of the manorial estate. Diagonally opposite the 1704 farmyard, a Baroque garden was probably laid out on the north side of the Usa at the beginning of the 18th century. Remains of its massive enclosure are still preserved along the Usa. The site of the garden is now a publicly accessible green space, which borders the cemetery, probably laid out there in the middle of the last century, to the north.

The entire castle estate was acquired by the municipality of Ober-Mörlen in 1920; rooms for the municipal administration and apartments found their place in the main building. After another fire in the old manor house in 1966, it was only used as a council and community center. As a consequence of the now public use, the formerly complete massive enclosure of the property along Frankfurter Straße next to the old gate entrance to the forecourt was opened several times in a window-like manner. In the forecourt itself, a draw well from 1710 now serves only as a decorative element.