15th to the 18th century
1446
It was in this year that a visionary ancestor of Katja Newman bought the property, together with 80 acres of land and ran it as a manor with rooms for rent, later adding a tavern. The purchase is documented by local tax records dating from 1446: “Hans Bilstein gives 8 Schillings 3 Pfennigs from his ‘Sessgut’, 9 Schillings from a Gut, i.e. the Schwäbling Gut, 9 Pfennigs from the interest he receives from a Stückle, which he used to purchase the Zartenhof.”
1490
With the establishment of the post office, the business acquired a new purpose: it became a postal station and consequently a focal point for travellers because, as we know today, the carriages not only transported letters but people as well.
1639
The Black Forest House, with the same wooden balcony and imposing roof that is still standing and in use today, opened its doors after just a one year period of construction. The old building burned down during the Thirty Years' War. There are only a few remaining, albeit striking details reminiscent of 1639 and the dynamic couple Katharina Riesterer and her husband Franz Gustav, landlady and landlord of the Adler from 1632 to 1680 and 1622 to 1681 respectively. Their portraits adorn the „Stube“ seating area in the „Adler Stuben“ in the form of murals. There’s also a wall cabinet and shelving dating from that period.
1770
This year sees the marriage of Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresia and Franz I of Austria, to King Ludwig XVI. in Versailles. Her journey from Vienna to Paris passed via the Black Forest - the trip through the area aided by the construction of the Höllentalstrasse. It is assumed that the later Queen of France stayed at the Adler postal station.
