Neubergthal is an unincorporated

rural community Rural Sociologists have identified a number of different types of rural communities, which have arisen as a result of changing economic trends within rural regions of industrial nations. The basic trend seems to be one in which communities a ...

and a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

in the

Municipality of Rhineland The Municipality of Rhineland is a rural municipality (RM) in the Pembina Valley Region of Manitoba. The RM had a population of 5,945 as of the 2016 Canada Census. The average age in the municipality is 31. It surrounds, but does not includ ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Neubergthal was founded in 1876 as a

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

community with

Russian Mennonite The Russian Mennonites ( it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire are a group of Mennonites who are the descendants of Dutch and North German Anabaptists who settled in the Vistula delta in West Prussia for about ...

settlers who came from the

Bergthal Colony The Bergthal Colony is a former Russian Mennonite settlement in what is now Ukraine. The colony consisted of five villages - Schoenfeld, Heuboden, Bergthal, Schoenthal, and Friedrichsthal - which were settled during the years 1836 to 1852 by 149 la ...

in Russia. The historic site encompassed six

sections Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

of land and the village was laid out in traditional long narrow

farmsteads A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

. The village is famous for its traditional Mennonite

housebarn A housebarn (also house-barn or house barn) is a building that is a combination of a house and a barn under the same roof. Most types of housebarn also have room for livestock quarters. If the living quarters are only combined with a byre, wher ...

s and other historic buildings.

History

Neubergthal was founded in 1876 by

Plautdietsch Plautdietsch () or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "fl ...

-speaking Mennonite settlers from the Bergthal Colony in what is now Ukraine. These Mennonite settlers had Dutch ancestry dating back to the 16th century

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

and

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, after which time they lived in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and eventually the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, where they came to be known by the misnomer of

, even though they are ethnically Dutch not Russian. In the 1870s, some of these Mennonite became dissatisfied with increasing Russification and the loss of their military exemption and were recruited to move to Manitoba. The first settlers moved to the

East Reserve The East Reserve was a block settlement in Eastman Region, Eastern Manitoba initially set aside by the Government of Canada exclusively for settlement by Russian Mennonite settlers in 1873 (although settlement did not occur until 1874). Most of ...

in 1874 and from here some moved to the

West Reserve The West Reserve was a block settlement plot of land in Manitoba set aside by the Government of Canada exclusively for settlement by Russian Mennonite settlers in 1875. Today, the former West Reserve exists in what is now the Rural Municipalities ...

in 1876, looking for fertile farmland. Migration to the new village of Neubergthal was based on family relations, which can be seen in the surnames and marriage patterns of the first inhabitants.
Neubergthal, like other Mennonite villages, was settled as Strassendorf, or street village, and villagers lived in a communal farming village where they built traditional Mennonite housebarns, a number of which are still standing today.

Historic Status

In addition to its status as a National Historic Site of Canada, Neubergthal is home to multiple municipal historic sites. These include the Herdsman's House, H.F. Hamm House, and Friesen Interpretive Centre. The H.F. Hamm House and Friesen Interpretive Centre are maintained by the Neubergthal Heritage Foundation, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

which oversees heritage preservation in the village. In 2017, the group received a Parks Canada matching grant to restore the historic Klippenstein house barn, targeted for March 2018 completion.

Media exposure

Neubergthal has been featured in the news for some high-profile arrivals to the town, Terry Mierau and Monique Scholte, a couple of opera singers turned farmers. The town, nearby farmers and research work from Winnipeg's University of Manitoba were featured in Katharina Stieffenhofer's documentary called 'From Seed To Seed'. Neubergthal was an inspiration for the fictional village of Altfeld in author

Andrew Unger Andrew Unger (born November 8, 1979) is a Canadian novelist and satirist. He is the author of the satirical news website The Unger Review (formerly The Daily Bonnet), as well as the novel '' Once Removed'' and the collection ''The Best of the B ...

's 2020 novel '' Once Removed''.

References

External links

Manitoba Historical Society - Neubergthal Street Village

Neubergthal Heritage Foundation - Official website

Herdsman's House - Canada's Historic Places

H.F. Hamm House - Canada's Historic Places

Friesen Interpretive Centre - Canada's Historic Places
{{MBDivision3 History of Manitoba by location Mennonitism in Manitoba National Historic Sites in Manitoba Russian Mennonite diaspora in Manitoba Unincorporated communities in Pembina Valley Region

History

Historic Status

Media exposure

See also

References

External links