New Tree of Everlasting Life is planted at the Zoar Garden
Frank Gibson of Davey Tree removes wiring that held the new tree together. At 15 feet in height, it will take the fledgling tree around 85 years to reach the height of its predecessor.
Locals and visitors have tied the knot, taken photos and even found a sense of calm beneath the Norway spruce that stood watch over the Zoar Garden for eight decades. It was struck by lightning twice, but it was the arrival of fierce March winds this year that splintered and snapped off the top of the nearly 100-foot, 94-year-old tree.
On Nov. 7 a new Norway spruce was planted in its place. It stands 15 feet in height and will take about 85 years to reach the stature of its predecessor.
There was no saving it
When the storm took off the top of the tree, there was simply no way to save it. Zoar maintenance workers did their best, using chain saws to make a clean cut, lopping off the top of the tree.
It wasn’t long before a representative of Davey Tree who had seen reports of the damage reached out and offered to help the Zoar Community Association, which manages the site.
More than a tree
A historical marker beside the garden fence reads: “The Zoar Garden represented the New Jerusalem as described in Revelation 21. The center tree is Christ or the Tree of Life, surrounded by a hedge representing Heaven. The surrounding 12 trees represent the apostles.”
The path around the perimeter of the garden was said to represent the world, and the crisscrossing of paths represents paths to Christ. Several paths lead directly to the center while others veer off, representing the many paths people can choose to take in life but all eventually connect.
Neither the symbolism of the tree nor its height can fully explain the effect it has had on people through the years.
“It’s more than a tree and more than the original symbolism,” said Tammi Shrum, site manager for Historic Zoar Village. “There have been so many people who have been married under that tree. Homecoming, prom and family photos have been taken under it. We had my own daughter’s newborn pictures taken in the garden with the tree as a backdrop.”
Jon Elsasser, president of the ZCA, agreed. “It’s a unique tree, and the garden has been a special place for people for many years.”
Even those who aren’t familiar with the original meaning of the tree have fallen in love with it. “I think the tree takes on its own symbolism for people because they’ve had all these milestone moments underneath it,” Shrum said.
A massive undertaking
The late Hilda Dischinger Morhart was a child during the time the Separatist Society of Zoar was intact. Before her death she wrote “The Zoar Story” to give descendants a sense of their history.
A passage from the book tells how the original gardener Simon Beuter once bemoaned in his diary that he only had four boys to help him in the garden one year.
“Maintaining the Zoar Garden is a massive undertaking,” Shrum said. “There are so many beds and different plant species. Just pulling the weeds alone is a huge job. We hire high school kids each summer just to pull weeds, and that’s all they do.”
ZCA is in constant need of volunteers to help maintain the garden. “Mayor Scott Gordon is extremely dedicated to the garden, and the brunt of the work falls on him and Joe Brown, our maintenance manager,” Shrum said.
The cost to replace the tree, according to Elsasser, is about $30,000.
“There was a lot to this project,” he said. “First, we had to take out the old tree and the roots, which were huge. One of the 12 apostle trees surrounding the center tree was knocked down by the big tree, so we had to take all those out and grind the stumps and replace those trees as well.”
According to Brown, the top half of the tree was on the ground. “I cut all that up, and then a maintenance crew from the Ohio History Connection came down. They had the equipment to lift themselves up and take the rest of it down, so they were a big help.”
Brown said the 12 surrounding trees have been replaced with emerald green arborvitae standing approximately 4 1/2 feet tall.
“We went with those because they’re not supposed to grow like the old trees that grew so big around that they encroached on all the paths,” he said. “I told Jon Elsasser about a year before this happened that you could tell the tree had been struck by lightning. I said, ‘I sure hope it doesn’t come down on my watch,’ and a year later, there we were with chain saws cutting it up.”
Wood from the tree has been used by wood-turner George Watson at the Stars of Zoar Co-Op to make small keepsake trees and other items and prompted Steve Plaso of New Philadelphia to create a preserved section and present it as a gift to the ZCA.
Rebirth
“To me, planting the new tree is sort of a symbol of rebirth,” Shrum said. “It represents a fresh start.”
Brown said it will be nice to be able to decorate the center tree with lights this year for Christmas in Zoar. “The old tree was too big to string lights, so we had to shine spotlights on it, so that will be pretty nice now.”
To volunteer to help maintain the garden, call ZCA at 330-874-0000. To contribute to the tree-replacement fund, search Tree of Everlasting Life Replacement on GoFundMe or mail a check made out to the Zoar Community Association, P.O. Box 621, Zoar, OH 44697.