Bergthal colony was located on land that had been set aside by the Russian government for Jewish settlements, in 1817. Those plans didn't materialize. When the Chortitza leadership brought the matter of the many landless families in Chortitza before the government, this land was offered as a solution. The Bergthal colony consisted of five villages: Bergthal (1836), Schonfeld (1837), Schonthal (1838) which eventually had 31 farms, Heubuden (1839), and Friedrichstal (1852).

Attempting to remedy mistakes they remembered from their own migration, the leaders of Chortitza colony took extra precautions to help the new settlers get a good start. Only families of the Flemish church were chosen, to prevent inter-faction strife. Three men, Wilhelm Rempel, Jacob Martens, and Johann Wiebe supervised the development of the colony.

Since many of the settlers were poor, financial help was given to the families. Among other forms of assistance each family received five wagon trips free to transport their belongings the 212 kilometers to the new colony.

The first village, which was settled initially by twenty nine families, was named Bergthal. "Berg" referred to a fairly high hill just north of the village and "thal" referred to the Bodena valley nearby. The second village to be built was Schonfeld, so named for the "beautiful field" upon which they intended to construct. Twenty five families took up residence here. The third village was started in 1838 when another twenty two families arrived from Chortitza. The village was established in a small valley just south of the Bodena River, thus the name "Schonthal" or "beautiful valley." Heuboden was added on in 1839 when twenty eight more families arrived from Chortitza. Their village name was chosen for the abundance of grass in that area. In 1852 Friedrichstal was established by nineteen families, some of whom had grown up in the other villages of the Bergthal colony.

While the area offered some natural resources, it was no paradise. To the northwest of the Bergthal colony stood the Kamennaya Mogila mountains which measured about 100 meters (330 feet) high. These mountains provided the granite for foundations, milling stones and threshing stones for the colony. On average the temperature would rise to about 38 degrees Celsius during the summers and drop to -24 degrees Celsius in the winters. The absence of forests or significant mountain ranges on this rather flat land allowed for near constant wind which blew from the northeast in the winter and southwest in the summer.

Due to the emphasis on planning, a direct result of the lessons learned by the other colonies, this colony was more carefully laid out and many fruit trees were planted early on. By 1845 Johann Cornies reported to the Russian agency overseeing the Mennonite colonies, that Bergthal colony had 401 apple trees, 400 pear trees, 197 plum trees, 295 cherry trees and 36 apricot trees. Perhaps that is why "pluma-mouse" became so popular.

In the early years sheep raising was the primary means of support. This had been the principal source of income for this region even before the Mennonites arrived. In 1832, just before the colony was established, a seaport was established at Mariupol and Italian grain merchants were invited to set up shop. The price of grain rose five-fold as a result of this new market. Consequently, the Mennonite farmers soon established themselves as a major source of wheat and flax, with some barley, rye and oats.

Privately-owned windmills such as the one shown here were used for milling purposes. A large village might have one such windmill, sometimes two. In later years eager investors built too many windmills and many ended up in financial ruin. This Dutch-style windmill, similar to the ones their great-grandparents had used in the Netherlands, was built of brick. The roof and vanes turned with the wind.

Farming methods were quite simple in those days. Seed was broadcast by hand, covered with a harrow and later harvested by scythe or sickle and bound in sheaves until it was ready to be moved to the village for threshing. Seeding alone took some three weeks for the average farmer. Threshing was accomplished either by flailing the stalks over a barrel shaped object until the seeds fell off or by use of a horse-drawn threshing stone. After the harvest the fields would be plowed with a one-share plow pulled by a horse. The harvest would be hauled in wagons, caravan style, to market in Mariupol, about 20 miles to the southeast of the colony.

Worship in Bergthal was traditional, varying little from the practices used in Danzig 100 years earlier. A large church building, seating 1,000 people, was erected in Bergthal village. Since Heuboden and Schoenfeld were within a mile the inhabitants of all three villages could worship in the same church building together. The church buildings were quite commonly modeled after the buildings used for worship in Prussia. The Prussian authorities would not allow external ornaments or design to decorate the exterior of church buildings. This practice carried through to the colonies as can be seen in this photo of a church from the Chortitza colony. The pulpit was commonly placed at the center of the long wall so that most of the congregation was equally close to the pastor. Construction materials varied depending on the era and the materials available at the time.