Searching for Harmonia: The Lost Mystery Village - Battle Creek, Michigan

[@CoreyTibbetts]

Very cool video. I live on river road all my life and it's cool to see the history around here

[@dennisbartels6144]

Ha! We used to park along the railroad tracks off Harmonia and EIlis Roads back by the gravel pit/lake on weekend nights in the late 70s. We even got shot at out there (although we were on the old railroad access road). Misspent part of our youth there. We used to think Harmonia Road was the perfect name for an old high school hangout spot. Had no idea of the history so nearby. Thanks for the history and documentation.

[@MichaelDelaware]

It is more secluded than most cemeteries in the area. I can see why it draws the young crowd. Unfortunately it does seem to have its problems with vandalism too.

[@manicorganicl]

That is really neat. Very cool history of not only Battle Creek but religion and some historical figures.

[@alicejogwe1361]

Thank you....that was great!!

[@steveelliott8582]

Outstanding...

[@shawnrainer]

I learn more every time I watch these. Thank you for posting!

[@MichaelDelaware]

Glad you like them!

[@joezeigler1064]

Thank you for your many interesting local history videos. The stone cairn in Monument Park might make an interesting video

[@KevJYoung817]

I walk out in that area a lot. I'm surprised I never went into that area. I will be out there to check it out. I love history. Plus I live on Harmonia Rd. I've found a lot of very old stuff nearby.

[@joezeigler1064]

One big factor in the decline of Harmonia was the hiring of a controversial headmaster. One of the differences in various religious based utopian sects was the celibate sects & the free love sects. A well known utopian “free love” community were the Oneida’s in New York. The new headmaster was a proponent of “free love”. Many parents were concerned about this and removed their children. The enrollment decline led to closure of the school.

[@johnmuncy4872]

Very interesting

[@MichaelDelaware]

Thank you

[@nancydimitri4672]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[@sandraboyd7537]

Another great history lesson of the area. Thanks!

[@rebekahsebring-waidelich7538]

Awsome! Thank you!❤🇺🇸💙

[@TCMedicare101]

Wow! You have sincerely intrigued me with the history of Battle Creek. Can you recommend other books? I'll rewatch to get the one you mentioned in the vlog.

[@MichaelDelaware]

Tales of Battle Creek by Berenice Bryant Lowe. Beyond These Gates by Oak Hill Cemetery. James Jackson has written a few on local history, Veterans of Oak Hill and the one on the Haskell Home Tragedy. There is also a book called ‘Cerealizing America’ which has a fascinating history of the cereal industry.

[@danieldunn6284]

The Irony of a Quaker village being torn down to build a military base always gets me

[@MichaelDelaware]

It was a puzzling irony for sure. Then they kept the school and turned it into an automatic rifle school. The thinking of those times was certainly different.

[@romibo6252]

We'd go up to the Cemetery in the late 1960's. It wasn't well taken care of, and no fence!

[@romibo6252]

This was great. So much history!

[@MichaelDelaware]

I assume Bedford Twp is mowing it now. There are two large holes in the fence though.

[@elainepoost5794]

@@MichaelDelaware They are mowing it. I was there two years ago from PA and went cemetery hunting with my brother. We grew up in the LaMora Park area on what is left of the family farm of Stephen Furner who was sheriff of Calhoun County in the early years of the 1900s. We had never heard of Harmonia, but some distant relative was buried in Harmonia Cemetery in Bedford Twp so we went looking. We had to go to the township building to find out where it was and how to get there. They had just mowed the cemetery. So strange that we weren't taught more about our history growing up. Now, I wonder if my typing teacher at NW Junior High School had any relationship to Sojourner Truth. I am really enjoying the walk-through history on your channel and the pieces put out by Willard Library. Thank you.

[@davidkemp3154]

Watched the planets align last week here on Eagle Lake. Old Harmonia. Found Harmonia Rd itself a couple days ago so I stopped to take a break riding my moped. In the middle of nowhere come two cute women pushing baby carriages. There's nothing for a long distance ahead. This place is strange.

[@JeffinBville]

Michael, I know you focus on the Battle Creek area but if you haven't yet looked into Mentha (on the Kalamazoo/Van Buren County line) you might find it of interest. When we were creating the Heritage Project for the Kal-Haven trail Mentha was one of our target communities. Once the center of peppermint production - for the world - it's now got one single remaining home and one commercial building hidden deep in the woods. It's 2000 acres of peppermint, now in corn. iwr.msu.edu/kht/TrailSites/8b_Mentha.html As part of the Heritage Trail project we researched - and discovered - numerous villages that are now long gone such as Williams, whose only remnant is a short piece of sidewalk now overgrown along the road. kalhaven.org/heritage-trail/

[@MichaelDelaware]

That is fascinating. I will have to look into it.

[@joezeigler1064]

In looking thru microfilms of old newspapers there was an ad inviting people to the school to watch the students using their new science equipment. They were going to make “vapors of nitrogen” = nitrous oxide or laughing gas for visitors to enjoy! They sure knew how to party in those days.

[@MichaelDelaware]

Wow!

[@JerryJohnson-b1q]

my grandparents went there,,,,,, from Sweden to the area...Im looking for old black and white pics