Dover Dam and Zoar Village

Continuing on with our field trip on Wednesday.... As we drove along SR 800 East we saw the Dover Dam.
It looked interesting, so we stopped and checked it out.

The top of the dam was about 50 feet above the river. We wondered if the river ever come anywhere near the top of the dam. That would really have to be some flood!!

The river is really low right now as we haven't had much rain here.

The boys checked out everything they could find to look at.

Mr. Boot said this was the favorite part of the day for him.

Sometimes a little spontaneity pays off.

Zoar Village was a bust for us.

I am sure that most of the time it is a great place to visit, however when we were there it was all closed up. Ugh!! Apparently they went on to their fall schedule on Sept. 1, which is weekends only. I should have done a bit more research. A booboo by Mom.

We could still see their gardens. We drove around the town and then went on.

~Mom

Schoenbrunn Village, New Philadelphia, OH

We took the first field trip of the year on Wednesday. We went down to Schoenbrunn Village. It is part of the Ohio Historical Sites, so we got in free with our membership. Otherwise it is $7 for adults and $5 for children. The weather was really hot, over 90 degrees, which is VERY unusual in Ohio, especially in September. The Village goes to Weekend only hours after Labor Day. We had the place to ourselves. They had a nice introductory video that gave the history, and then we took a self-guided walking tour.


The village was completely destroyed and was rebuilt after some archaeological digs were done. There are about 15 buildings that have been reconstructed as well as fences and gardens.

The houses are built where they found the stone foundations. The Village was a Moravian settlement of Christian American Natives. They left the tribal religion and reached out to those around them. There were several Moravian missionaries that lived here also.

The houses were small and the doors were short. During the summer and on weekends they have guides who do the re-enactments and demonstrations.

The Moravians were big into educating the Indians. They wrote textbooks and translated the Bible into the tribal language. The second biggest building in the village was the above school. At one point they had 100 children attending.

They had benches in the middle and desk tables attached to the outside walls.

The settlement ate a lot of corn and grew beans and melons.

This is 'Heaven's Acre'.

The burial ground for the town. Only baptized individuals could be buried here. They did bury both white and Indian side by side. The stones on the ground are the headstones.

The original church in the village held over 300 people. They held services here every morning and evening to teach the people.

In late 1776 they left the settlement and burned the church down so that it wouldn't be desecrated. They left the area because they were pacifists and they were caught in the fighting of the Revolutionary War between the British coming down from Fort Detroit and the Colonists coming up from Fort Pitt. Neither side appreciated the 'Christian' Indians.

Here is T-Bob wearing a Moravian Preacher hat.

We had a nice time and spent about 1.5 hours here. If the presenters had been demonstrating the candle making, and all the other colonial arts we could have spent more. There is a nice small museum at the entrance that gives more history and holds many of the artifacts they found while excavating their archaeological dig.

~Mom

Fort Meigs and the War of 1812

We are continuing our Ohio History via field trips 'program'. Today we went to Fort Meigs which was where the turning point battle in the War of 1812 occurred. Prior to the siege at Fort Meigs the US had lost nearly all the battles of the war. After that the tide went against the British and the US won.

Fort Meigs is the largest restored fort in the US. It is the size of over 8 football fields. It is in Perrysburg, OH.

We were blessed to be able to hook up with a tour of children from a day camp. The guide took us on a tour of the fort and also demonstrated how to shoot his gun. If you call ahead they will arrange a tour for you.

In the center of the fort is an obelisk that was built early in the 1900's as a memorial to all the men who died there. More men died from disease than from battle wounds. The area is right on the Maumee river and was very swamp like. In the spring of 1813 the mud came up to the men's knees.

They do have different displays and information in four of the blockhouses. It got us out of the sun. It was VERY hot today. (90+).

The breeze off the river was the only thing that made it tolerable. At least we didn't have to wear the linen shirt and pants, the wool vest and dark blue wool jacket of a regiment soldier. They wore the exact same uniform, summer and winter.

The inside of the block houses were painted white so that the light coming in the window was reflected. They were not allowed to use candles in them as there was so much gunpowder present.

Our guide shot his gun out the window. It really wasn't very loud as the explosion occurred at the end of the barrel which was outside. I was surprised how much light came in the loop windows.

The inside of the fort has a number of earth mounds that were built by the soldiers as a place for them to hide behind from the cannonballs. They actually built little shelters inside the mounds. The British called the Americans 'groundhogs' as they would pop up to check for incoming shells and then duck back down into their holes. Very few Americans were killed in the battle from British artillery.

Outside the fort is a very nice air conditioned museum. It describes the role of the fort in the War of 1812, artifacts they have found on the grounds, important men of the time and a memorial. I think you could go through the museum in 30-60 minutes depending on how much reading you want to do.

The museum and fort cost $8 for and adult and $5 for a child and children 5 and under are free. It is also free if you are a member of the Ohio Historical Society. It is open Wednesday through Sunday. It has many re-enactments and programs on the weekends. Check their schedule before coming.

I would say that the children found this a fascinating visit. They have talked about it pretty much non-stop since they came home (when they weren't arguing about who had dishes-ugh!). Younger children might be bored. There are not a lot of buttons to push or brightly colored displays in the fort. It is a mile walk through the fort. There is a smooth gravel path. It was a very informative afternoon.

~Mom