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Zoar Wins Designation As a National Historic Landmark

Ideastream Public Media | By Mitch Felan
Published November 4, 2016 at 8:35 PM EDT
Zoar's garden and greenhouse supplied the communal village with food year round.
VILLAGE OF ZOAR
Zoar's garden and greenhouse supplied the communal village with food year round.
Zoar's garden and greenhouse supplied the communal village with food year round.
Credit VILLAGE OF ZOAR
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VILLAGE OF ZOAR
Zoar's garden and greenhouse supplied the communal village with food year round.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has named the village of Zoar a national historical landmark.

The village was founded by German religious dissenters in the 1800’s.  

Tammi Mackey-Shrum, is Zoar’s site director.

“Zoar was kind of this really unique communal utopian society. Zoar did have the longevity, they came to America as immigrants escaping religious persecution, and then when they built their town the architecture is extremely German and European in nature and it really reflects their way of life.”

The village had previously been threatened by a deteriorating levee, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had considered breaching. The village could have been flooded as a result.

The corps decided to repair the levee instead, and Mackey-Shrum says the village’s landmark designation will protect it for the future.

The designation comes just in time for Zoar’s 200th anniversary in 2017. Zoar is now one of 73 recognized national historic landmarks in Ohio.

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Mitch Felan
Mitch Felan is a news intern for WKSU. He is a multimedia journalist with experience in print, television, radio and visual journalism. Felan is a junior at Kent State University, working towards a Bachelor's Degree in Multimedia Journalism. During the school year, Felan works for Kent State Student Media in TV2, The Kent Stater, and KentWired. He will be serving as the Digital Director for Kent State University's Student Media Newsroom in the Fall.
See stories by Mitch Felan
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