Rothenberg lies at elevations between 200 and 500 m in the southern Odenwald in the Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald, 7 km north of Hirschhorn on the Neckar.

Rothenberg went, as Rodenberg, in 1535, along with the villages of Ober-Hainbrunn and Unter-Finkenbach, and Vogt rights in Moosbrunn, as an Imperial fief to the Lords of Hirschhorn.

By the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine, Rothenberg and the other villages, but not Moosbrunn, passed along with the County of Erbach in 1806 to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt.

When in the course of industrialization traffic routes were being expanded, this handicraft and market community’s high elevation, which did not favour transport, became a curse.

Kortelshütte has developed itself since the early 20th century into a climatic spa after a highway link and new housing estates were built, while Hinterbach earned importance in the 1930s for its mineral springs.

About the turn of the 20th century, complaints were mounting among dwellers in the upper village about the water supply's shortcomings.

Today, the historic pumphouse between Kortelshütte and Rothenberg is run by a circle of technically enthusiastic idealists.

Furthermore, in the Rothenberg hamlet of Hinterbach can be found the Odenwald’s last maintained hydraulic ram.