After the Wars of Liberation, the Oberamt – later district – of Meisenheim passed on 1 September 1816, under the terms of the Congress of Vienna to the lordship of the Counts of Hesse-Homburg.

[5] In June 1997, during excavation work for a new barn west of Breitenheim, there was an utterly unexpected discovery when some foundation remnants of an obviously very old building were unearthed.

Thanks to builder Wolff's thoughtfulness and interest in history, knowledge of this find reached the state archaeologists in Mainz who were responsible for such things by way of Karen Groß of the Meisenheim Historical Club.

Over a fortnight, a team from the Archäologische Landesdenkmalpflege (State Archaeological Monument Care), Mainz office, sometimes thwarted by rain, dug the building's remnants up.

Under local excavation engineer Klaus Soukop's leadership, six young men, most doing alternative civilian service but one a “freelancer”, pealed back the layers of earth to bring the old foundations to light.

In the coming years – with the family Wolff's permission – the further parts of the building are to be unearthed, which will make Breitenheim the only place within a great distance to have the footprint of a Roman villa rustica that has been so completely excavated.

A Roman villa rustica – Latin for “country estate”  – was made up of a main building, which was the dwelling, and several outbuildings, namely a barn, a stable, a shed, servants’ quarters and so on.

A heated bathing facility was part of a villa rustica's basic appointments as surely as running water from the nearest spring.

By the 4th century, though, or at the latest the 5th, this era of high living ended, and the Middle Ages announced their onset with the waves of migration that involved so much of Europe.

The village belonged to the County of Veldenz, and this is recalled by the charge on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side, the blue lion on a silver field.

[9] The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[10] The following clubs are active in Breitenheim:[11][12] To the east runs Bundesstraße 420.