ZOAR VILLAGE--
Ohio's Communal Experiment, 1817-1898

A motorcyclist trundles along Ohio route 212 and passes the yet-to-be restored Zoar Hotel (above) in this historic village located in northern Tuscarawas County while village staff member Bruce Barth (below), in period garb, tells tour visitors about the commune's reconstructed greenhouse .

Just 14 years after Ohio became a state about 200 German religious dissenters called the Society of Separatists of Zoar arrived in Ohio and formed one of the longest-running communes in the state's history.

They were escaping religious oppression from the Lutheran Church and were led by Joseph Bimeler, a pipemaker and teacher whose charismatic leadership carried the village through a number of crises.  They did not practice baptism or confirmation and did not celebrate religious holidays except the Sabbath.

The Zoarites had purchased 5,000 acres of land sight-unseen and used loans to pay for it.  They were due in 1830.  The Society struggled for many years to determine products and services they could produce in their village to pay off the loans.

After early failures of individual families to be able to raise sufficient crops to sustain themselves all money and other assets of the community were pooled and the commune was born.  Individual folks volunteered to work in the area of their personal skills.  Others reported for work each morning and were assigned tasks that would be helpful to the common good.

The community government was an elected board of trustees.  Men and women had equal rights.

They constructed a central garden with geometric precision occupying an entire square of their village centered around a now-huge Norway Spruce tree which symbolized eternal life, encircled by a hedge representing Heaven and twelve juniper trees representing the apostles, enclosed by a circular walkway.

The garden is immediately outside the greenhouse windows above.

A community kitchen was formed where folks ate in shifts.  There was a bakery and a cobbler's shop and a tin shop, a wagon shop and a blacksmith and a sewing house, a bakery and a school--each providing community services in return for labor provided by its members.

An early event critical to the success of the colony was the digging of the nearby Ohio and Erie Canal.

Ohio required some of the Zoarite land to be used as right-of-way and offered the village an opportunity to assist in digging the canal for money.  They accepted, and spent several years in the 1820s digging the canal enabling them to pay off their loans on time with money to spare.

The village spring house (above) circulated cold, spring water in channels surrounding the visitors keeping dairy products cool and available for dispersal to the town's residents.  Free, of course.

By the mid-1830s Zoar was virtually self-sustaining.  The farms produced more food than was needed and many products were sent to other towns for sale.  The foundry, for example, manufactured many goods including wood burning stoves for general sale--the principal source of heat for most buildings.

By 1852 the society's assets were valued at more than one million dollars.

Bimeler's death on August 31, 1853 led to a slow decline in the cohesion of the village.  Although the Zoarites lived and labored as a communal body, Bimeler had been the group’s spiritual leader and business administrator even before their arrival in America. His energy and foresight largely were responsible for Zoar’s success. After his death, the people’s initiative gradually declined.

The social and economic environment was changing as well, and this, too, had a major impact on the community. The coming of the railroad in the 1880s brought more of the outside world to Zoar, and the rise of mass-production industries made Zoar’s smaller businesses obsolete. With easier access to the outside world, younger members drifted away to make their fortunes, and religious orthodoxy decreased.

In 1898, with a growing number of Zoarites expressing their desire to disband and divide any remaining assets, the society was dissolved. Common property was divided among members, with each receiving about fifty acres and $200.

Zoar History