As a witness mountain (a single mountain in a layered landscape) of the Franconian Jura, the Hesselberg is geologically closely related to the Staffelberg (Lichtenfels district) or the Walberla (Forchheim district).
The Hesselberg also has a Nazi past, like so many other things. During the Nazi era, the Franconian Gauleiter Julius Streicher made the Hesselberg a political meeting place for the National Socialists. After the NSDAP came to power, party rallies developed into the Franconian Days, which were held annually until 1939. Alongside the Nuremberg Party Rallies, these were the largest Nazi rallies in Franconia, with up to 100,000 people in attendance. Evidence from this period can no longer be found on the Hesselberg today.
Since 1951, the Hesselberg has been in church hands and is, among other things, the venue for the Bavarian Evangelical Church Congress.