Schoenbrunn Village

Schoenbrunn Village

New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663

Official Website

Tips for Birding

The historic village is fenced and requires an admission fee as you enter through the visitor center. During off hours the main entrance road is gated at both East High Avenue (north) and Delaware Drive Southeast(south). During hours of operation the area around the main parking area and the woodlot to the north can be accessed for birding.

The primary area of birding interest and accessibility is the portion west and south of Delaware Drive Southeast. Approximately 125 acres of land are open free of charge to the public year-round for walking, birding, and picnics. In this area are 2 shelter houses, picnic areas, and associated parking. There is a paved access road that runs through this section originating on Delaware Drive Southeast near the south entrance to the main parking area (across the street) and emerges back onto Delaware Drive Southeast near the Calvary Cemetery. This access road is gated at both ends during winter months and each night during other months. This paved roadway would be readily wheelchair accessible when gated (without vehicle traffic). When gated, the best place to park would be at the east end on the pavement between the gate and Delaware Drive Southeast making certain not to block the gate.

The habitat here is bottomland hardwoods including some pine plantings, open picnic areas, and several oxbow swamps with buttonbush. Several foot trails (poorly marked, often wet or with standing water) exist and provide some access into the area on both sides of the roadway. Otherwise birding from the paved road or in the grassed picnic areas is good. The buttonbush oxbows will have Wood Ducks, Prothonotary Warblers, and Rusty Blackbirds while the woodlands will have all woodpecker species, Wood Thrushes, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and the usual woodland species. Red-shouldered Hawks are often present and a Bald Eagle nest is located on the Tuscarawas River approximately 1 mile away. In winter this area is excellent for White-throated Sparrows.

The 25 acres include 30 to 40 wooded acres south of US-250. The only way to access this section is by passing under US-250 following the railroad tracks. Habitat is similar and trails are absent.

About this Location

There is an admission fee to tour the village.

Schoenbrunn Village is the site of several Ohio firsts—settlement, church, schoolhouse and code of laws. The village, restored to appear as it did more than two centuries ago, includes the original cemetery and 16 reconstructed log structures, as well as the church and gardens. A visitor center with a museum and introductory video will help orient you so that you can experience the village as if you were in the past. Average visit time: Allow 1+ hours

Schoenbrunn Village, founded in 1772 as a Moravian mission among the Delaware Indians, was the first Christian settlement in Ohio. Although the village prospered for several years, pressures from encroaching settlers and British-aligned Indians forced the abandonment of Schoenbrunn in 1777, shortly after the start of the Revolutionary War.

The village was established by David Zeisberger, who in 1772 found a rare pocket of neutrality in a region that was tense as the American Revolution approached. Five Indian families and Zeisberger came to the Tuscarawas River area to find a suitable site for a mission, upon an invitation of the Delaware Indian leader Netawatwes to establish a mission in the Ohio country. The village established the state’s first civil code and built the first schoolhouse. Toward the end of its short, five-year history, the villagers were harassed from both sides: the American Indians, who were under the influence of the British, and the American frontiersmen, who were pushing their way farther into the Ohio country. By 1777, pressured by the opposing forces, the villagers chose to abandon Schoenbrunn. Upon leaving, they ruined the meetinghouse so it could not be used again.

Schoenbrunn Village is managed locally by Dennison Railroad Depot Museum.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

Content from Official Website and Dan Kramer