History
Nohen’s beginnings can be traced back to a time when the location was favourable to transportation because it lay on one of the few fords in the river Nahe’s upper valley. As an indication of how important Nohen was geographically in those early days, one need only observe that it was then the only place along the river Nahe that was named after the river (the names “Nohen” and “Nahe” have a common heritage). It was here that one of the oldest north-south trade roads crossed the Nahe. This Bronzestraße (“Bronze Road”) from the Glan by way of Nohen to the Moselle was expanded in Roman times into a crosslink between the Mainz-Trier and Mainz-Metz roads.
The military-strategic importance of the road link with the ford, or later bridge, was great. On the night of 23 and 24 September 1635 and the following morning, a Swedish-French army under Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar’s leadership went slogging by across the river after their defeat at Nördlingen in the Thirty Years' War on their retreat by way of Birkenfeld to Wallerfangen, even as they were being pursued by the far superior, victorious Imperial army under Count Gallas.
Until the late 18th century, Nohen belonged to the “Hinder” County of Sponheim.
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