the pilgrimage to hessenthal (see church below) goes back at least to 1293. it was established by mainz as a response to the rienecks' foundation of "kloster himmelthal". in the middle ages, the elsava valley and hessenthal were located on the juncture of two important long distance trade routes, the "via publica" through the spessart to the main crossing at lengfurt (today a part of triefenstein) and the early-medieval "salzweg" from worms.