Schoenbrunn snow scene

Handwritten on reverse: "Snow Scene. Picnic Grounds & Shelter House. Shoenbrunn. Wesley Green, Photographer, New Phila. Nellie E. Kaltenbaugh, Ohio Writers' Project. New Phila." In 1772, David Zeisberger, a missionary of the Moravian Church, established the village of Schoenbrunn on the Tuscarawas River, near present-day New Philadelphia. The word Schoenbrunn means "beautiful spring" in German. The purpose of this community was to provide Moravian missionaries a place to teach Christianity to Native Americans residing in Ohio. At its greatest size, Schoenbrunn had a population of four hundred Christian natives, mostly Delaware Indians, and more than sixty buildings, including the first school and Christian church built in Ohio. During the American Revolution, facing harassment from both the English and the Americans, Zeisberger and his followers abandoned Schoenbrunn in early 1778. They held a final service in the church, after which they tore down their house of worship to prevent its desecration. Schoenbrunn has since been rebuilt and is administered as an historic site by the Ohio Historical Society. Today the reconstructed village includes seventeen log buildings, gardens, the original mission cemetery, and a museum and visitor center. The site also includes natural areas and picnic facilities