Moravians were German-speaking missionaries from what is now the Czech Republic. In the years after the Revolutionary War, they and their Delaware Indian converts were persecuted in the United States, so, in 1792, they immigrated to Upper Canada led by David Zeisberger. They settled in a spot north of the Thames River. In 1793, Lt-Governor Simcoe visited the site accompanied by his aides Major Littlehales and Lt. Talbot. By 1794 the village was called Schönfeld, or Fairfield in English, and the population was 165. The British called the village Moraviantown.

Moraviantown (Fairfield)

Because the village was located on the Longwoods Road, it was bound to be drawn into the War of 1812. In September 1813, General Procter withdrew from Detroit along the Longwoods Road toward Burlington. When he arrived in Fairfield, the Moravians and their converts fled, afraid of more persecution by the Americans now following on Procter's heels. Their fear was justified on October 7 when the Americans set the village on fire.

When the Moravians returned in 1817, they settled south of the river and called the new village New Fairfield. This became the new Moraviantown. Today little remains of either village. A museum next to the site of the old village commemorates the original Fairfield, which has a cairn and markers that show where each settler lived. The cemetery for the old Fairfield is in a field across the road from the museum. The site of New Fairfield is across the river. All that remains is a church. The area surrounding New Fairfield is the Moravian Indian Reservation, home of the Delawares of the Thames.

Church in New Fairfield