Zoar Village: A Forgotten Past

Zoar Village, a mostly unheard of intentional community in southern Ohio, was created by Joseph Bimeler. Bimeler was a German Quietist whose community, with him, fled Germany due to religious persecution and settled in Ohio. Zoar, the village, has been abandoned for years after the community went into decline with the death of their leader. Zoar collapsed similarly to many other intentional communities; a change in leadership, with a leader who did not really accept the same views, led to a decline in the community that then led to the collapse of the community. Although Zoar Village has died out, the heritage of the village remains because the historical society keeps the town intact and the history of the village intact. In Zoar, there is basically nothing to do outside of the historical village, hence why many people have not heard of this historical intentional community. Although the town is not bustling, there is still a town present in Zoar and American history is present as well but this may be lost. The legacy Zoar Village left behind may be lost forever if there is not enough funding to allow the historical sites to survive and to fix the levee surrounding the town.

 While we were at Zoar Village, we learned many things about the Zoarites that both separated and united Zoar Village with other intentional communities of its time. For example, with some intentional communities, such as the Shakers, communal living was present from the beginning; the Zoarites only began communal living out of necessity in order to survive and then continued with communal living because it worked well. Although the Zoarites are no longer present in society, this does not mean Zoar Village should be forgotten. It is a part of the intentional communities in American history in the nineteenth century and due to this, they should remain a part of our history.