Grebenhain

Grebenhain
Coat of arms
Grebenhain
Location of Grebenhain within Vogelsbergkreis district
Coordinates: 50°29′N 09°21′E / 50.483°N 9.350°E / 50.483; 9.350Coordinates: 50°29′N 09°21′E / 50.483°N 9.350°E / 50.483; 9.350
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Gießen
District	Vogelsbergkreis
Government
• Mayor	Manfred Dickert
Area
• Total	91.62 km2 (35.37 sq mi)
Elevation	467 m (1,532 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	4,684
• Density	51/km2 (130/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	36355
Dialling codes	06644, 06643, 06668
Vehicle registration	VB
Website	www.gemeinde-grebenhain.de

Grebenhain is a community in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany.

The community of Grebenhain lies from 400 to 733 m above sea level in the southeastern Vogelsberg Mountains, about 30 km west of Fulda.

Grebenhain borders in the north on the town of Herbstein, in the east on the community of Hosenfeld (Fulda district), in the south on the communities of Freiensteinau and Birstein (Main-Kinzig-Kreis), in the southwest on the town of Gedern (Wetteraukreis), and in the west on the town of Schotten.

The community consists of 15 centres named Bannerod, Bermuthshain, Crainfeld, Grebenhain (administrative seat), Hartmannshain, Heisters, Herchenhain, Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen, Metzlos, Metzlos-Gehaag, Nösberts-Weidmoos, Vaitshain, Volkartshain, Wünschen-Moos und Zahmen.

The area nowadays occupied by the greater community of Grebenhain in the Vogelsberg was likely settled by waves of settlers from the Wetterau between the eighth and eleventh centuries as part of the expansion carried out in the High Middle Ages by the Abbots of Fulda.

The oldest place in today's municipal area is Crainfeld, which was alluded to as early as the ninth century in a Fulda donation announcement. The first definite and verifiable mention of Crainfeld, however, is in a king's document from 1012, which also mentions Bermuthshain and Ilbeshausen in a document for the first time.

Crainfeld advantageously lay at the crossroads of two important mediaeval trade roads, and was moreover until 1821 the seat of a court district, witnessed even today by the Edelhof, the Amt building used by the Oberschultheißen (roughly "sheriffs") when the Landgraves held sway in Hesse. The stately half-timbered house was built in 1685 by carpenter Hans Muth from Ilbeshausen. Hans Muth also built the Hansenmühle (or "Teufelsmühle" – "Devil's Mill") in Ilbeshausen in 1691, one of the loveliest half-timbered buildings in Upper Hesse. Crainfeld is furthermore still the seat of the parish even today. Until the State Highway (Staatsstraße), today's Bundesstraße 275, was built in 1834-1857, and the railway line in 1901-1906 through the neighbouring community of Grebenhain, Crainfeld was the region's main town.