Apple Butter Days canceled

The continuing drought and a ban on open burning have forced the cancellation of the annual Apple Butter Festival in Gnadenhutten. The event is a fundraiser for the Gnadenhutten Historical Society and provides a place for the community to talk about history.

An open fire is essential to make the apple butter and necessary for cooking, making hot drinks and enjoying fellowship for the living history volunteers who camp at the village during the event.

“We kind of kicked around ideas, using alternatives, but it undermines the spirit of it, I believe,” said Andy McMillen, president of the Gnadenhutten Historical Society.

A community worship service, organized by the John Heckewelder Memorial Moravian Church, is set for Oct. 13 and will still be held at the Gnadenhutten Historical Park with a free lunch to follow. The service will begin at 10:30 a.m.

For those wanting to visit the Gnadenhutten Museum and Historical Site, the museum will be open Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Oct. 13 from 1-5 p.m. The museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays through the end of October.

McMillen and the volunteers at the Gnadenhutten Historical Society are planning to make good use of their downtime this fall and winter. A special committee will meet to discuss ways to make their events better and more community oriented and to ensure they are aligned with the mission of the group and its resources.

“I think it’s an opportunity for us to change, use some creativity and come up with something interesting,” McMillen said. “I don’t know what that looks like, but it will definitely look different next year than it does now.”

McMillen is excited to start meeting with the committee.

“There’s always room for more input. The more good minds you get together, it can only help,” McMillen said.

The group’s work to reorganize the museum is progressing. They had a print made of Johann Schmick to hang in the front room of the museum. Schmick was the lead minister at Gnadenhutten at its height of success.

“He came in April 1773, and he stayed there until April 1777, when things at Gnadenhutten were going well before the war. The war forced him to go to Lichtenau,” McMillen said. “He was in charge, and so I thought there was definitely a place for him to be (in the museum).”

The GHS also would like to have something more in the museum to remember Joshua Sr.

“He was a driving force,” McMillen said. “He kind of circumvented Zeisberger and wanted his own town. He talked to Netawatwees about having a separate village for the Mohicans because he was a Mohican.”

Joshua Sr. brought the Moravian Mohicans to Gnadenhutten. He had been a chief of his people and was an elder in the church. He also was a translator and a hymn writer. He worked with others to translate hymns into the Mohican language.

McMillen praised the Village of Gnadenhutten for its help in upkeep of the Gnadenhutten Historical Park. The village recently completed a redo of the electric service in the concession stand.

“The village here has been incredibly supportive, which makes us as a historical society want to do well by the village. I think there’s so much potential here,” McMillen said.

The excitement about the filming that was done at Gnadenhutten last year for a Ken Burns documentary about the American Revolutionary War has not diminished. It will still be a wait. The production is not scheduled for release until late 2025.

“I would be looking forward to that, whether we were involved or not, but especially if we would be,” McMillen said of the upcoming film and the possible increase in visitors it could bring to the Gnadenhutten Historical Park.

That gives the members of the GHS even more incentive to make the changes they feel will benefit the museum, grounds and the community.

“I’m hoping by the beginning of next season, we have it, physically, what we want it to be,” McMillen said.

In the future the group may seek grants for some larger upgrades at the site.

For more information or to donate, visit www.gnadenmuseum.com or Gnadenhutten Museum and Historical Site on Facebook.