Due to its subterranean natural resources, such as iron ore, silver and lead deposits, Dernbach was characterized by intensive mining for a long time.

The knightly family of Dernbach, related to the noble House of Isenburg in terms of ministeriality, guarded and defended the nearby residence of the Archbishop and Prince-elector of Trier in Montabaur (castellum Humbacense) after his return from a Crusade in the Holy Land (1217 AD).

As the male line of the family died (around 1400 AD), the famous Hilchen von Lorch inherited the Dernbach castle and owned it for almost 300 years.

The famous assembly of sculptures (early 15th century) which belonged to the chapel, the so-called 'Dernbacher Beweinung', a group made out of clay, was transferred to Limburg, where it now can be seen in the diocesan museum.

Born and grown up in Dernbach as a child of small farmers, she everywhere noticed the misery and distress of the fellow human being and she was not willing to accept this for the rest of her life.

Finally the child's vision of a monastic life generously serving the poor and the sick became real in 1851 AD, when she founded the first new congregation of sisters in the 1827 newly established diocese of Limburg (Lahn).

The next InterCityExpress stop is at Montabaur station on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line, crossing the A3/A48 interchange through the modern Dernbach Tunnel, built in the late 20th century.

The regional rail service Lower Westerwald Railway (Unterwesterwaldbahn), connecting Limburg and Siershahn, stops at the old village station in Dernbach, built in 1902.