The First Fall Festival and a New Witch Giveaway

The winner of the fortune telling card giveaway is: lilylovekins

This weeks giveaway is for this very cool metal witch sign. It was done by an artist in Florida. It is approximately 13x9 inches. To enter, leave a comment on this post. If you are not already a follower, sign on to follow. The winner will be announced next Saturday and a new giveaway will be posted at that time.

I promised you a lot of pics and here they come! It will take several days to cover this trip. Let me start out by showing what the entire driving part of the trip looked like. Two solid hours of this.

And then we ran into this! No warning signs, no detours, just this. Can you see the road continues about ten feet from these signs? We had to drive miles and miles out of the way to get around this.

Fortunately, we saw some of these.


This is Amish country my friends.



If you click to enlarge the pic you will see that they were not too pleased that we were taking pictures of them.


Sorry lovely Amish guys, I couldn't help myself.

These signs were all along the drive.


After driving forever through the winding farm country we descended into the picturesque village of Zoar, Ohio. This is the courthouse.


We were early and easily found a parking place next to the Zoar Hotel.


It is still in really good shape for being so old.


It is right across the street from the Zoar Store.



I love this little bed and breakfast.


It is located right on the main street. Isn't it wonderful? You can almost picture horse drawn carriages going up and down the street.


Zoar was founded in 1817.


The historic buildings are now private residences but are labeled with signs describing their original use.


German's from the area around Wurttemburg separated from the Lutheran church. This had dire consequences at the time.


They fled Germany and landed in Philadelphia.


They were embraced by the Quakers who loaned them money to buy land in Ohio.


This house is for sale.
I want it! It's on the market for $209,000.00. It was the original tanner's house.
The German separatists found this area and settled it.


They named it Zoar after a story in the bible about Lot.


About 200 people settled here.


They had a very difficult time surviving in 1818 and 1819.


Apple trees line the streets.
The settlers decided to form a commune.


They all donated their property and in return, the society provided for them.


They ate together in one massive dining area.


Teddy is licking her chops because she smells hot dogs cooking. And yes, she got one!
Corn was growing in these fields last year but because of crop rotation, this year it is planted with soy beans.
There was a communal laundry where everyone brought their clothes to be washed. It is still here.


Zoarite women could run for office and vote.


Zoar prospered economically.


They sold their excesses to outsiders.


The community was entirely self-sufficient.


In the late 1800's the children, who were now adults, had no memories of the early tough times.


The railroad had a stop here and travelers that stayed in the hotel started buying homes in the town.



The Zoarites were exposed to outside influences for the first time.


There are still many of the originally buildings which have not been restored and they add to the ambiance of the town.


The Zoarites saw no reason to maintain the communal living lifestyle.


Grapevines grow along most of the picket fences.
So, they dispersed.


During the festival you can by all sorts of good things to eat and dine under the apple trees.
The Zoarites bought their property back and that was the end of the commune.


This town has been embraced by people that are very hands on preservationists.
The homes are very well maintained.
This is the original school house where all the children were educated.


Even a falling down barn has charm.


Almost all the garages are decorated.


The gardens are impecable.


Look at the size of those 'elephant ears' in this yard.


These are the community gardens.


They are fashioned after the original gardens from 1819.


People that live here still volunteer to maintain them.


This is the back of the old communal laundry. It is now used as a broom makers shop.

Many more pictures will be posted tomorrow so stop back to see some of the vendors and their wares!