The municipality lies in the Vulkaneifel, a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.

Hohenfels-Essingen lies in the Hangelsbach valley framed by the Feuerberg (588 m), the Alter Voß (588 m, with “Liberation Beech”) and the Mühlenberg (585 m, with its well-known millstone quarries).

As witnessed by archaeological finds, Hohenfels was already settled in Roman and Frankish times and in 948, it had its first documentary mention.

Some of the most important Roman roads ran over the northern heights of Hohenfels and through the Kyll valley north of Trier.

In the district Im Keller (“In the Cellar”) in Hohenfels, the remnants of a portico villa were found during building excavations in 1957.

Only about 200 metres away in 1914 in the rural cadastral area Auf Grafenfeld in Hohenfels, two Roman graves were unearthed and salvaged for the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier.

The great Germanic taking of the land between 400 and 600 destroyed Roman culture and brought the area into the “army kings’” (Heerkönige) hands.

In November 1817, the Eifel was annexed to the state of Prussia and thenceforth belonged to the newly founded Rhine Province with its seat in Düsseldorf.

The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Argent a sword bendwise sinister gules, the point to chief, between an urn azure and a millstone vert.

The blue urn refers to the great Frankish burying ground with 125 graves and the important finds therefrom.