By: Mary Ann Johnson reprinted from the Door County Advocate of October 15, 1993

When Albert Zahn born in 1864 in Pomerania, Germany, came as a young man to America, he brought with him only part of a old world legacy that would be incorporated over 60 years later in his mysterious wood carvings.

His new life in Door County would make its limited contribution, for local sea captains, lumberjacks, dogs, wild animals and birds influenced the prolific scope of the body of his work he would later create. But the wellspring from which the most significant aspect of his work would be inspired by his belief in a better, eternal world was buried in his psyche. He had been schooled for eight years in Germany in a Lutheran school and was a deeply religious man.

Shortly after World War I in 1924 he turned ownership of his Baileys Harbor dairy farm located four miles north of Baileys Harbor on East Meadow Rd. over to his eldest son Albert Jr. and move to Baileys Harbor to a cement home he designed and built. The doors and windows were all made in advance and had been stored in a shed for later use. Cement was mixed by hand in a wooden handmade box three feet by five feet and the cement was poured pail by pail into forms for the eight inch wall. As the cement was poured cedar block four to five inches long were placed into the cement walls The cedar blocks were placed there to keep the moisture out of the house so there would be no frost inside the house, and to conserve on cement.

The total house was build in one summer and fall by Albert and his wife Louise (formerly a strege) with the help of their oldest son Albert Jr. On the days when Albert Jr. had to work on the farm he would bring his mother and father to the site where they would work all day and he would pick them up in the late afternoon. Other days he would stay with them and work at the site. The family moved into the house in early December 1924.

The home consisted of one large bedroom upstairs and a large parlor or sitting room as it called then. This parlor later became the room that housed his collection of carvings. The other two bedrooms were located on the lower level. At the south end of the house he the kitchen. Albert then installed a wind charger on the roof to provide electric power for the house. He never hooked up to power for it was too expensive. A gasoline engine was used to generate power when there was no wind.

Albert soon rekindled an interest in woodcarving, a skill he had learned as a goose tender in Germany. He had carved earlier at his farm where he decorated meagerly with his carvings. Every winter evening Albert would sit in the lower level and carve. His carving were given to friends that came to visit and to his children’s friends. The carving were made of cedar and the birds received wire legs. His wife would paint all of the carvings in brilliant colors of red, blue, black and white etc. The eagles were always painted black with white heads and the angels were white with gold accents.

An artistic vision was realized in the construction of an environment of his carvings which he called "birds park" that is just on the north end of the town of Baileys Harbor on the West Side of Highway 57. He created and lived in this personally created environment, as a gawking and disbelieving stream of tourist sped by, they would stop by to inquire about buying his carvings. Albert finally agreed to sell some of them though he was reluctant to do so.

One of his daughters, Louise who lived in Chicago, encouraged him to sell them, the small ones for .25 cents and .50 cents each and the large black eagles with white heads sold for $5 each. (Now they sell at auctions at Sotheby’s in New York for $1200 dollars each) The pillars in front of the home had carved fish placed on them and everything at Birds Park was soon covered with birds, angels and biblical figures. He later had posts build outside the house to "dress up the place". He later build the "penthouse" on top as a extra bedroom.

Albert Zahn fits the classic definition of an "isolated" artist, he was both isolated and compelled by a preoccupation of contemplating a world to come and remember an Old World gone by. The art of Albert Zahn is nonconformist, as is all isolated art is because it doesn’t coincide with acceptable standards, visually or intellectually.

The birds he carved ascended abstract wooden thrones and tower structures, peopled by large mystical figures. The figures looking part Hussein soldier, part Old World patriarch and part angel are futuristic. Yet they all took their place in his roadside Utopian environment. The mystical figures all sold to the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The power of his art was its ability to document,, describe and reflect on the form and meaning of human experiences and visions.

Albert Zahn had assisted his nephew August Zahn in building his black smith shop in 1913 with living quarters on the second floor, as well as his large two story house. He also worked at Gordon Lodge a resort hotel in North Bay as a carpenter, building cottages there for Dr. A.J. Gordon and his wife.

His son Elmer Zahn of Sturgeon Bay recalled one of the more humorous incidents in Albert and Louse’s life. It was at Halloween time, Albert would turn his dog loose on the kids that would come to turn over the outhouse. One time their dog "Queenie" got hold of Walter Zahn by thee back of the pants and tore a hole in them.

His children remember him as a quiet man who was kind hearted and also good-natured unless he lost his temper when attending meeting at the Baileys Harbor Town hall. He saw to it that all nine of their children went to school and were all baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church. He played the organ at the Christ Lutheran Church.

After his wife Louise died in March 1950. Albert moved in with his son Elmer in Sturgeon Bay for a few years. The Bird Park home stood vacant and regrettably was broken into. Many of the birds and angels were stolen and most of the beautiful carvings were stripped from their lofty perches. Albert died in February 1953 and is buried in the Baileys Harbor Cemetery.

His home is now owned by Robert McCullough of Oregon, Who is restoring the home to its former state of splendor. He hopes to buy back some of the carvings and to place the birds both indoors and outside, some will be placed on the very top of the bird park on its penthouse

Examples of Zahn’s carvings may be seen in the American collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Modern Art of New York.