Luckily for the garden house, a famous poet took an interest in it. Who knows if it would have survived to this day if she hadn't purchased it at auction. Before she bought it, it had stood empty for decades following secularization!
The house was to be auctioned.
Jenny, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's sister, lived in Meersburg Castle with her husband, Joseph von Laßberg. The poet visited them three times and stayed for several months each time. In 1843, she heard about an auction at which the prince-bishop's garden house and surrounding vineyards were to be auctioned off.
A garden house owned by margraves.
The garden house had been in possession of the Margraves of Baden since 1803. As part of secularization, they had acquired all worldly property previously belonging to the church dignitaries. The house then stood empty for several decades. In November 1843, it was auctioned off. The poet from Westphalia saw Meersburg as her "second home" and greatly enjoyed being there. She liked the idea of purchasing a little house and some property on Lake Constance for her old age!
The house was a lucky find for Droste-Hülshoff.
All of Meersburg's prominent society—anyone who was anyone, including vintners—attended the auction. When Annette von Droste-Hülshoff expressed an interest in participating, something surprising happened: everyone else stopped bidding. Thus it was that, after only a few minutes, the poet won the bid. On top of that, the price of 400 Reichsthaler was more than reasonable for the large property. In her letters telling of her purchase of the Prince's Little House, she expressed her surprise at her good luck.
The poet raved about her new property: She called the Prince's Little House her "swallow's nest," the same name she'd given her attic hideaway, where she could be alone. In 1843, she wrote to her friend, Elise Rüdiger: "And now I have to tell you that I have been a grand land owner for the past eight days. I have purchased (...) the bright Prince's Little House and its vineyards, and for how much? For 400 Reichsthaler! The view is almost too beautiful; the view of my immediate surroundings is almost too vibrant, the distant view almost too boundless."
The picturesque view from the Prince's Little House looks over the vineyards, the town and the lake.
