[1] Rugaard was founded in 1579 when the nobleman Hans Axelsen Arnfeldt bought land from the crown including farms in the villages Attrup, Rosmus, Balle, Hyllested and Rove.

Rugaard is located on the rim of the last ice age sheet that ended 12,000 – 14,000 years ago.

Amongst other things Jørgen Arenfeldt subjected the suspects to the "water test", where the accused where thrown into the moat at Rugaard, with their hands and feet tied.

Jørgen Arenfeldt's witch hunts, trials and executions, including burning at the stake, finally backlashed.

When Anne Sørensdatter was interrogated as to which witches she was in alliance with, she named some powerful and wealthy citizens in the neighboring towns, Ebeltoft, Grenaa and Aarhus.

Anne Sørensdatter avoided being burnt at the stake, but was sentenced to flogging and was exiled, for her "untruthful accusations against honest and well reputed people".

The last witch burning at the stake in Denmark took place on the Danish island of Falster in 1693, seven years after the case against Anne Sørensdatter.

He partly drained the lake, Søndersø, for farming purposes,(reestablished recently) and sold land to smallholders, thereby ending villeinage.

Ferdinand Mourier-Petersen was not only seen as a competent squire, who added land to Rugaard, planted forest on the stony grounds to the north, and kept the buildings in good order.

But first and foremost Ferdinand Mourier-Petersen was co-founder and chairman of, Hedselskabet (1866) a national movement with the purpose of transforming infertile heath-land, primarily in Jutland, to farmland.

A monument in the park north of the manor commemorates Ferdinand Mourier-Petersen's effort in forestation and the conversion of heathland to farmland.

Rugaard Castle lies in a hilly and forest covered landscape with lakes bordering the sea and can be seen as idyllic and holding substantial natural values.