Walk to Steinegg forest chapel
Maria Hilf forest chapel behind Steinegg Castle - woodland walk, old legend and peaceful elevation in the Northern Black Forest.
The Maria Hilf forest chapel is located behind Steinegg Castle in the woods, on an overhanging rock around 200 meters from the castle courtyard. The path leads through pines and the quiet hillside between Steinegg and Hamberg.
An old legend tells how the chapel began: during the Thirty Years' War, when Steinegg Castle was threatened, noblewomen from the Gemmingen-Steinegg family fled into the forest under this very rock. In distress, they vowed to build a chapel to Mary on the protective stone if they were saved. A spider is said to have covered the hideout entrance with its web, so the enemy found no one.
The vow was fulfilled: in 1683 Sebastian Forster endowed the chapel, and in 1739 Karl Dietrich Anton von Gemmingen expanded it. The small site still feels like a quiet witness to that history.
Ideal for half a morning: view Steinegg Castle from outside, continue to the forest chapel, and include St. Wendelinus Chapel with wide views over meadow orchards on the way back - on foot or by bike via Hamberg-Steinegg. Especially beautiful when light filters softly through the trees and the air is very clear.
For the full chapel-route tour (~21 km) with GPX, map and route description, see the "Kapellenweg Biet" article on ferienpark-schellbronn.de - from Hohenwart via Schellbronn, Neuhausen and Steinegg to Tiefenbronn.