Garden in Zoar photograph   Save
Ohio History Connection Property Files
Description: This photograph shows two women in black dresses with umbrellas standing in the northeast section of the Zoar garden in Zoar, Ohio, in Tuscarawas County. The geometric layout of the garden symbolized the New Jerusalem described in the Book of Revelations of the Bible, and the large Norway spruce at its center symbolized eternal life. The greenhouse is to the left, and and a bakery stands beyond the greenhouse. This garden is east of the gardener's home. Led by Joseph Bimeler in 1817, a group of Lutheran separatists left the area of Germany known as Wurttemberg and eventually established the small community of Zoar in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. They would become known as the Society of Separatists of Zoar in 1819. After a few hard years, the group became solvent by helping to build seven miles of the Ohio and Erie Canal, which passed through their lands. The canal enabled them to get their produce to market and allowed them to be financially successful. The Zoarites manufactured much of what they needed themselves. The village of Zoar, named for the Biblical city that Lot fled to from Sodom and Gomorrah, included grist mills, a wool factory, iron furnaces, a tannery, a foundry, garden, and store. After Bimeler's death in 1853, the unity of the village declined, and by 1898 the Zoarites disbanded the society. The remaining residents divided the property, and the community continued to prosper in Zoar. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om395_1088673_005
Subjects: Zoar (Tuscarawas County, Ohio); Society of Separatists of Zoar; Gardens; Communal Societies
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)