....Zoar was founded by
German religious dissenters called the Society of Separatists of Zoar in 1817. It was a communal society, with many German-style structures that have been restored and are part of the Zoar Village State Memorial. There are presently ten restored buildings. According to the Ohio Historical Society, Zoar is an island of Old-World charm in east-central Ohio.[SUP]
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The Separatists, or Zoarites, emigrated from the kingdom of
Württemberg in southwestern Germany due to religious oppression from the Lutheran church. Leading among their group were some natives of
Rottenacker on the
Danube. Having separated from the established church, their theology was based in part on the writings of
Jakob Böhme. They did not practice baptism or confirmation and did not celebrate religious holidays except for the Sabbath. A central flower garden in Zoar is based on the
Book of Revelation with a towering tree in the middle representing Christ and other elements surrounding it representing other allegorical elements.
The leader of the society was named Joseph Bimeler (also known as Joseph Bäumler or Bäumeler, born 1778), a pipemaker as well as teacher from
Ulm. His charismatic leadership carried the village through a number of crises.
An early event critical to the success of the colony was the digging of the
Ohio and Erie Canal. The Zoarites had purchased 5,000 acres (20 km[SUP]2[/SUP]) of land sight unseen and used loans to pay for it. The loans were to be paid off by 1830. The Society struggled for many years to determine what products and services they could produce in their village to pay off the loans. The state of Ohio required some of the Zoarite land to be used as a
right of way and offered the Zoarites an opportunity to assist in digging the canals for money. The state gave them a choice of digging it themselves for pay or having the state pay others to dig the canal. The Zoarites then spent several years in the 1820s digging the canal and thus were able to pay off their loans on time with much money to spare.
Bimeler's death on August 31, 1853 led to a slow decline in the cohesion of the village. By 1898, the village voted to disband the communal society and the property was divided among the remaining residents.....
