It has been a farming village located Eastern of the city of Freiburg at the edge of the Black Forest, where the Dreisam valley opens up to the Zartener basin in the East.

Despite its incorporation into Freiburg in 1914 the character of the farmer’s village at the gates of the city hadn’t changed much until the middle of the 20th century, even though the modern world found its way into it with the construction of the Höllentalbahn (Black Forest) in 1887, a rail station and the tram in 1925.

The placid village with a few mansions along the sides of the mountain became a large municipal residential quarter for a predominantly middle-class population, which grew together with the neighbouring districts Waldsee, Ebnet and Kappel.

It is a combination of the coats of arms of the long-time local lords of the German Order (cross) and the count of Sickingen (silver bullets).

Relatively few shops are located in Littenweiler, there is only a small centre nearby the tram's terminal station "Lassbergstraße" and near the border of the neighbouring district Waldsee.

The proper village centre around the former church, the former town hall and the schoolhouse of the Reinhold Schneider school is widely freed from transit traffic today.