What did that sign say?...There was a sign?

Today has been almost completely consumed with signs. Not only are we are convinced that Pennsylvania and Ohio have a strange, unexplainable aversion to posting street/road signs, but the signs that were posted certainly questioned the sign's function of providing helpful information. This is not to say that "MAGGOTS $1.00" just outside Zoar, OH, wasn't useful information, but when we came across "Eutopia" after searching for State Route 65 within the 15' stretch between the two arrows pointing at each other in Monaca, OH, we knew that we should remain a little skeptical.

Thanks to Elmore and Dre at a car repair shop, we finally located the highway just 100' from where we were standing. Only, we had to drive two miles down the road in the opposite direction to find the turn around that took us back in the direction we were actually after.

The day began much more successfully, however, when we arrived at our first destination: Harmony, PA. Founded in 1804, this little place just south of a small river was the first established community of German immigrant, George Rapp, who had become disappointed in the political engagement of the Lutheran church in Germany but more importantly, believed that the Judgment was to occur in his lifetime. He and a group of followers, the celibate Harmony Society, established Harmony as their first place of preparation for the inevitable and lived as a cashless, communal society. It was the most quaint little place that still emits an unavoidable air of community. Our first encounter in the town was a group of about six children and one adult marching from the church on Spring Street holding a colorful collection of construction paper cutouts held together by remnants of crochet/knitting thread. We found out that they represented the entirety of the local Vacation Bible School. Unfortunately, we arrived to Harmony about an hour and a half too early for the local historical museum, but thanks to the genuine pride that the present-day citizens have in their little "utopia," we were able to piece together much of the history through the proliferation of signs posted on the original buildings of the Harmonists. (They must not participate in the no-sign policy of the rest of Ohio.)

Our second encounter was a bit more voyeuristic, but we witnessed community in Harmony again when a local drove by a woman watering flowers on the street, stopped the car in the street, chatted and even asked jokingly to come water his flowers in his yard. It was such a pleasant moment to observe in the quiet late morning, and it seemed that they didn't even really notice Mom and me obsessively taking pictures of this almost sickeningly cute place. Two Harmon-ites (to distinguish them from the original inhabitants) just down the hill did notice us, though, and by the time we reached their little store that framed a gateway for the town (along with Otto and Gert's 5-and-10), they were sitting on the porch of what appeared to be the former General Store but had been converted to an antique shop that boasted "Air Conditioned Comfort 74 degrees!" waiting to give us directions to some other "real interesting buildings" in the area. Although we wanted to see the Minninite barn just down the road, we had an agenda to follow and Utopia #2 awaited our visit.

Not much remained of the New Philadelphia Society's Monaca. Their aspirations for an alternative to the Harmony Society's third community just across the Ohio River did not entirely come to fruition; they only succeeded in lowering the already diminishing Harmonists' community (celibacy - final judgment + time = shrinking population). More interesting to modern visitors to this area was this preserved community of Old Economy. Mom and I arrived there just in time for a nice rain shower which made the tour of the interiors of the very functional, simple structures so much more interesting. Much like the Shaker's, the Harmonists made quite a bit of their furniture, but they also purchased several pieces from outside the community (especially for the leader's home where visitors to the community would be entertained). The Harmonists were certainly economically savvy as well as industrious, developing a highly successful textile industry, and, as their basement coffers demonstrated in the late 19th century, their decision to refrain from individualized wealth allowed for a communal wealth that was extraordinary. One of the most interesting aspects of this community that impressed me was their inclusion of a Natural History Museum within their community that displayed the advances of modern science as well as taxidermied animals from all over the world (including a kangaroo!) We also visited Rapp's house (the leader's dwelling), a typical dwelling, the communal kitchen, the feasting hall (an enormous vaulted span), the blacksmith's shed, and the wine-cellar (crazy cool space with mostly original wooden barrels and a really intriguing pully/rail system for hauling the barrels out of the cellar). Too bad to say that the battery in my camera died and I used Mom's camera but we can't upload any photos yet.

By the time we finished with the tour, we were starving...so we wandered around Ambridge and came across a sweet little cafe that had just been renovated. The sandwiches were fresh and yummy, but the two folks working there were out of this world nice and helpful. I only asked for a quick point in the direction of our next destination, and they both dove onto google and starting looking for better routes to Zoar, OH (of course, a place neither had heard of before). Luckily they spent awhile (including a phonecall to a mom for suggestions on routes) because a really nasty storm swept through and blew over several trees/limbs in town.

We made it out of town safely and ended up in Zoar, OH just in time for a lovely post-rain sunset that made all of the buildings glimmer and reflect warm tones that made it all the more quaint. Again, we missed the museum hours, but to our surprise, Zoar had also posted several signs and had a fantastic little hand-out with a brief history of the Separatists of Zoar (biggest interest being the separation of church and state) including their participation in building the levee that protects the town today. Oddly, this place uncannily reminded me of a little town on the White River in southern Arkansas, Clarendon, that I stayed in for a summer planning study -- the overhanging vegetation, some of the homes/gardens, and especially the levee.

The end of the day couldn't have been better than the beautiful views and light that we had on a little country road that ran along a ridge. Because we had to travel east for awhile, we had the sun at our back as we drove through several nineteenth century towns full of large, Victorian homes. No stopping for dinner...we just made it to a hotel and crashed. Utopia is exhausting.