Zoar

Zoar may refer to several places and a biblical city. In the Hebrew Bible, Zoar is a city near Sodom that God grants as a refuge to Lot before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The name, derived from Hebrew, is commonly interpreted as meaning “small” or “insignificant.” Its exact historical location is not definitively known, but it is described as a border town of the region.

Zoar, Ohio, is a village in Tuscarawas County along the Tuscarawas River in the United States. It was founded in 1817 by German religious dissenters who organized a communal settlement known as the Zoar Community or Society of Believers in Jesus Christ. The community practiced shared property and cooperative labor as part of a planned, pacifist, agrarian lifestyle.

Today Zoar preserves much of its 19th-century character. The village contains historic architecture from its communal era and operates as a tourist destination and living historic site. It is listed as the Zoar Village Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, reflecting its significance as a well-preserved example of a planned religious community in the American Midwest.

Etymology for the name traces back to the biblical Zoar, and the places named Zoar are often linked to themes of refuge or communal living. The term remains in use primarily in historical and geographical contexts.