About us
An enjoyable feeling in attractive surroundings
History
The Landstuhl Ölmühle, earlier also known as the “upper mill”, was one of six mills on the Hembach stream of which several were there before the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). They were all owned by a noble man and entrusted to capable millers. During the Thirty Years War, all of the mills were destroyed and only ruins remained.
About 1690, the nobels von Sickingen, rebuilt the “upper mill” so that the people would have flour. In 1723 the Kinsbach restaurant owner of “The Swan”, Kilian Menges, purchased the mill property for 300 Gulden. He was obliged to deliver 13 Malter of grain each year to the city treasury as his lease payment. He also had to maintain the stream to the mill.
About 1830 the mill came into the possession of the rich Landstuhl businessman Joseph Benzino. At that time he was the richest businessman in the district of Homburg. He converted the mill from milling flour to producing oil. It states in the district administration report of 1844: “The oil business of Joseph Benzino Sr. in Landstuhl is still the most important in the district. The mill buys its oil precursor from the area (mostly cabbage from the Sickingerhöhe), beats it into oil, sells some of it in the area but most of it to Preußen…”. He employed a number of so called “oil beaters”.
In 1890 the Benzino family sold the mill to the businessman, Heinrich Held, who later sold it to the Richter family. In 1925 the mill was shutdown and converted to a family house. In 2003 Mrs. Elisabeth Stärz acquired the mill and as a family project with much love and a large part their own work, renovated it into a restaurant and hotel.
