Albert Zahn Education Resources

Albert August Zahn lived in Door County, Wisconsin, for most of his adult life. Although little is known of his childhood in Germany, Zahn remembered that he began to whittle while working as a shepherd in Germany. When Zahn was fifteen years old, he immigrated with his parents, brother, and sister to Wisconsin. In 1891, he married Louise, and together they raised nine children on the family homestead in Forestville, Wisconsin.

Zahn maintained a successful dairy farm. He collected walnut, black ash, pine, and white cedar from the woods surrounding his home to use for furniture making. Zahn’s utilitarian works, such as wardrobes, tables, and chairs, included imagery of animals similar to the carvings he created later in his life.

In 1924, Zahn gave his farm to his eldest son, Albert Jr., and moved with his wife and two of his children to a house he built in Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin. He spent his days carving woodland animals, birds, angels, and characters from local stories. His wife, Louise, painted the sculptures with house paint. Zahn attached carvings of birds and other creatures, such as deer, to the outside of their home. He named his art environment Birds Park. By the early 1930s, hundreds of carved flying creatures dotted the house and yard, and it was a well-known Door County attraction.