Zoar's Civil War Weekend

On September 20, 2025, we headed out on an adventure to visit a few different locations. During our travels, the subject of Zoar Village having a Civil War reenactment weekend came up, so our group decided to go and check it out.

We have been to Zoar on several occasions in the past. We even once took a group with us on a ghost tour/hunt at the village. This trip was just a special outing to experience the village with a Civil War encampment, so we did not spend too much time taking pictures during it. If you want to find out more about the village's history and paranormal information, we have it well documented in other videos.

We spent some time walking through the village, entering the vendor areas and the campsites. We watched them take the cannons out to the battlefield area and experienced the firing of rifles from both sides. In our video below, you can see our adventure we had that day, with us wrapping up with our experience of the simulated battle.

As mentioned earlier, this post is brief because we didn't have many pictures to share. We mostly took video clips, which you can see compiled in the video.

Zoar Village, located in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, was founded in 1817 by a group of German Separatists seeking religious freedom. Led by their spiritual figurehead Joseph Bimeler, the group fled persecution in Württemberg and made their way to America in hopes of building a community where they could live and worship without oppression. Upon arriving in Ohio, they purchased land along the Tuscarawas River and began constructing a settlement based on shared labor, mutual support, and spiritual unity. By 1819, they formally adopted the **Society of Separatists of Zoar**, a communal system in which property, labor, and resources were pooled together for the benefit of all. This communal lifestyle helped the group survive early hardships, and over time, Zoar flourished with its farms, workshops, mills, and businesses. The village’s unique architecture, German traditions, and commitment to self-sufficiency made it one of the most successful communal societies in early America.

As the decades passed, Zoar became known not only for its distinctive way of life but also for its unexpected connection to major historical events. During the mid-1800s, the community played an important role when the Ohio and Erie Canal was constructed, providing essential labor that brought wealth and stability to the village. The Civil War years also left their mark on Zoar, as several residents enlisted in the Union Army and the village provided supplies to support the war effort. Despite its success, internal disagreements and cultural changes eventually led the community to dissolve the communal system in 1898. Today, Zoar Village is preserved as a historic site, showcasing its unique heritage through museums, restored buildings, guided tours, and annual events. Its quiet streets, historic gardens, and original structures stand as a rare reminder of the Separatists’ perseverance, faith, and communal experiment that once thrived in the heart of Ohio.

For more on Zoar Village, see our other posts and videos.