Germantown Colony and Museum
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Germantown Colony Museum
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Countess Leon's House at Germantown Colony
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| Location | Off U.S. 79, Minden, Louisiana, USA |
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| Coordinates | 32°42′0″N 93°13′50″W / 32.70000°N 93.23056°WCoordinates: 32°42′0″N 93°13′50″W / 32.70000°N 93.23056°W |
| Built | 1835 |
| NRHP Reference # | 79001100 |
| Added to NRHP | March 12, 1979 |
The Germantown Colony and Museum is an historical preservation project north of Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, USA. It was among three sites in Louisiana founded by former members of the Utopian Movement called the Harmony Society in the early 19th century.
The original colonists came from Germany, having first settled in Harmony, Pennsylvania, in 1803, then in New Harmony, Indiana in 1814, and finally in 1825 in Economy (now Ambridge, Pennsylvania).
About 250 former members of the Harmony Society, many of whom left Economy, Pennsylvania, during 1832, decided to leave because of disagreements over the society's custom of celibacy. They followed a visionary named Bernhard Müller, who called himself "Count de Leon". The Count called upon all the heads of Europe to relinquish their crowns in a "new world to come."
The New Philadelphian Congregation, established by the New Philadelphia Society, planted its first colony in 1832 at Phillipsburg (now Monaca), Pennsylvania. Perhaps because of ongoing litigation, and other financial problems, Müller's group decided to sell their communal land in Pennsylvania in 1833. Some community members stayed, while others followed Müller and his family down the Ohio River on a flatboat. Soon they started again at Grand Ecore, twelve miles north of , Louisiana. There Müller died and was interred in . When the Count died, a congressman obtained passage of a bill donating a tract of land to the colonists and to Countess Leon, the Count's widow. The roots of the Germantown Colony were hence established.
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