unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to:
* Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality
* Unincorporated entity, a type of organization
* Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...
rural community
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
and a
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment
An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...
in the
Municipality of Rhineland
The Municipality of Rhineland is a rural municipality (RM) in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The RM had a population of 5,945 as of the 2016 Canada Census. The average age in the municipality i31
History
The municipality was incorporated ...
,
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 o ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Neubergthal was founded in 1876 as a
Mennonite
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
community with
Russian Mennonite
The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for abo ...
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 whith a byre, where ...
s and other historic buildings.
History
Neubergthal was founded in 1876 by Plautdietsch-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 fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...
and
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-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, ...
, after which time they lived in
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
and eventually the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, where they came to be known by the misnomer of
Russian Mennonite
The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for abo ...
, 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 Manitoba 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 the East Reserve's earliest settlers ...
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 1876.
After signing Treaty 1 with the Anishinabe and Swampy Cree First Nations, the C ...
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) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
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 writer from Steinbach, Manitoba, best known as the author and founder of the Mennonite satire website The Daily Bonnet (along with the collection ''The Best of the Bonnet'') and for the novel '' ...