Old timbers framed houses Franconian style, as they are found in Zodel and surrounding villages, show us that the founders of the
village Zodel came from Franconia.
The way farming was conducted in those days, the properties in the western parts of Germany were
already divided. A further division of the farms among the sons was impossible and the search for new ground forced many people to the
relatively unpopulated east.
Promises, like free ground, no taxes, freedom and independence were reason enough for the settlers to join
the trek to the east.
The farmers in Germany were free and independent by Germen law. Their fields and buildings were their property,
which they could pass on to their sons, which they could divide and even sell. The farmer had to pay a tribute to the aristocracy of
his area; the new settlers were exempt from this tax for the first 10 years. The farmer himself and his family were free and only
obliged to do military service.
The houses were small and consisted of only one room for humans and animals alike and the smoke of the fire left the house through
openings in the gables.
The way the village was laid out originally, along the brook, concludes that today’s main road did not exist at the founding of Zodel.
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