The municipality lies on the eastern edge of the Endert valley between Cochem and Kaisersesch, a few kilometres from the river Moselle.

Kern, as the village was called in the Middle Ages, had its first documentary mention about 1051 when Richeza, who was a Rhenish count palatine's granddaughter and former Polish queen who had been driven from her adopted homeland, and who had been living in nearby Klotten, made a great many donations to the Brauweiler Monastery near Cologne, among which was an estate at Kern.

Thus, they made a petition to Archbishop Richard von Greifenklau in Trier, which was signed by the reeves of Greimersburg, Landkern, Illerich and Wirfus and by the estate holders in Esper, Fahrenday, Neuhof, Kaveloch and Annisch.

On 21 January 1512, the Archbishop granted the request and approved Sunday Mass to be held alternately at the chapels in Kern and Illerich.

In the document from the Foundation, though, it was expressly stated that all members of these affiliated congregations were to attend Mass, along with their chaplains, at the parish church in Klotten on the following holidays: Good Friday, Easter, Whitsun, the Assumption, All Hallows, Christmas and Candlemas.

It was also set forth that the chaplain was to "have an abode near the chapel at Kern and enough cropland, meadowland and freely from our livestock 50 sheep, 5 swine and 4 cows."

The first Landkern parish priest, Father Franz Wilhelmy, born in Hambuch, began keeping the baptismal and death registers in 1728.

The new church was a small, east-oriented building with a tall west tower and stood parallel to the road towards Greimersburg.

[1] The municipality's arms might be described thus: Per saltire, first gules a wooden shoe Or, second argent issuant from the line of partition an abbot's staff sable, third argent a bear's gambe couped at the shoulder palewise embowed of the fourth armed of the third, and fourth vert a kernel bendwise of the second.

The abbot's staff refers to Brauweiler Abbey, which after Queen Richeza's bequest in 1053 had extensive holdings in Landkern.

The municipality was formerly part of the parish and high court district of Klotten, both of which bore arms charged with Saint Maximin and his attribute, a bear.

[5] The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments: There is a regular bus link to Cochem and Kaisersesch, where the nearest railway stations are to be found.