History of Midwest Wine: Harmony

In the southwestern corner of Indiana, along the Wabash river near its mouth to the Ohio river lies the small town of New Harmony, Indiana. New Harmony is famous for the community planned by Robert Owen in 1825 that was an experiment to create a Utopia in the new world. After just a few years this experiment failed, serving as a warning to others who would attempt their hand at creating their own utopia.

But what is now known as New Harmony was first simply named Harmony. Founded in the summer of 1814, the Harmony Society moved from their Pennsylvania home (a town also called Harmony) to their selected sight on the Wabash river. These German immigrants, lacking room to expand in Pennsylvania and surrounded by neighbors who were suspicious of them, decided to move out west where they could have more land for their growing community. And with all the grape vines they planned to grow, they would need considerable land for them and other crops.

As noted last time, European grape varieties do not survive long in America where native diseases wipe out the vines in short order. Despite communicating with the vintners in Vevay and their warning to avoid European vines, the Germans were still determined to try, confident in their own skills as vine dressers and vintners. While the Harmonists had more success in Indiana growing grapes and making wine than their earlier attempts in Pennsylvania, the conditions were still inferior to those in Germany. The German immigrants received a second batch of vines from Germany, but by 1825, these and the initial bunch on 15 acres were in poor health.

While the Harmony wine makers were able to find a market up and down the Ohio river for their wine, they had far more success with their other industrial undertakings, including clothing and flour. In 1824, they left Harmony to resettle in Pennsylvania, giving up on their dream of making wine in the New World and refocusing on traditional goods. 

Today, wine making is but a distant memory in New Harmony, as the closest winery is about 40 miles to the east. But parts of the original settlement remain, as does parts of the New Harmony settlement for those wishing to view the relics to the utopian ideal.