Sunday, May 12, 2013

Historic New Harmony...in the rain!


New Harmony is located in southwestern corner of Indiana just minutes from Illinois. I went there last weekend to participate in "Arts In Harmony", an annual arts and music festival. It is Spring in Indiana and that means the distinct possibility of rain and lots of it. And yes, it rained all weekend in New Harmony! So here are just a few photos to give you a taste of this small historic community. I might add it was actually raining when I took most of these pictures, intrepid photographer that I am.

Approaching New Harmony...
The Atheneum (Visitors Center)


The Wabash River creeping into the parking lot of the Atheneum!

New Harmony is the site of two of America’s earliest utopian communities. It was founded in 1814 by a group of 800 Lutheran dissenters from Wurttemburg, Germany. The Harmonie Society, led by George Rapp, arrived in the United States in 1804, seeking religious freedom. After 10 years, the Harmonists purchased 20,000 acres on the banks of the Indiana Territory’s Wabash River.  The Harmonists moved to the area in 1814. As a society and as individuals, they pursued Christian perfection through every aspect of their daily conduct. To that end, they created a highly ordered and productive community at New Harmony. Between 1814 and 1824, the Harmonists constructed more than 180 log, frame and brick structures in their settlement. The community was entirely self-sufficient and produced a wide variety of goods that were traded as far away as New Orleans and Pittsburgh. Harmonist wares also were sold overseas in the British Isles, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany.
In 1824, George Rapp decided to sell New Harmony. He found a purchaser in Robert Owen, a wealthy industrialist of Welsh descent, who was operating a textile mill in New Lanark, Scotland. In 1825, with his business partner William Maclure, Owen purchased the community of New Harmony outright, hoping to establish a model community where education and social equality would flourish.

Owen’s “Community of Equality,” as the experiment was known, had dissolved by 1827, ravaged by personal conflicts and the inadequacies of the community in the areas of labor and agriculture. Despite the breakdown of his experiment, Owen’s utopian dream brought significant contributions to American scientific and educational theory, study and practice. Early feminist activity in New Harmony increased national awareness of the issue of women’s suffrage. 
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The "Roofless Church" in the background.



Peaceful park setting just off Main Street, New Harmony.

 
I lived and worked in New Harmony between 1999 and 2001 so this trip was a "blast from the past" for me. New Harmony remains tranquil and unique in it's sense of place and character.
Thanks for looking!




1 comment:

  1. Again, I love your pictures of Indiana! And I never realizedthat New Harmony was sold and maybe why it failed.

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