It is situated at the northern edge of the Harz mountain range on the road from Ilsenburg and Drübeck to the town of Wernigerode in the east.

The village was known as Turincwartesrot in early medieval times, since, according to a 12th-century entry, a man called Turincwart settled down here and inherited or donated the place to the Fulda monastery, between 780 and 820.

It is assumed that Emperor Otto III held a court's day at an early medieval stone circle in Darlingerode.

On 6 August 1517, Martin Luther visited Himmelpforten Abbey near the village, where he debated with the head of his order, Johann von Staupitz, about the so-called sale of indulgences.

In the German Peasants' War of 1525, the monastery was taken and nearly destroyed by insurgents from Darlingerode and Wernigerode, the monks fled, returned for some decades, but left it in the end.