The Slavic Obotrites tribe settled eastern Holstein in the 7th/8th centuries A.D. and built a castle on Pheasant Island in the lake now called the Großer Eutiner See.

The originally Slavonic settlement of Utin was populated in the twelfth century by Dutch settlers.

As a result of the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, Eutin passed from the Free State of Oldenburg to the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein.

As the costs are covered by sponsoring, public funding and volunteer helpers, admission is free.

Originally constructed as a fully functioning windmill in 1850 by Carl Friedrich Trahn, Die alte Mühle (the old mill) now serves as a bar and restaurant.