Museum A-Ö » Sundom museum

When Sundom was annexed to the city of Vaasa in 1973, the museum area (main building, windmill, and plot) also became the property of the City of Vaasa. In September 2018, the Sundom local heritage association bought the Sundom Museum with its buildings and is now responsible for its operations. The country house received its sheet metal roof in the autumn of 2019.
________________________________________

The country house was erected at its current location on Västergränden in the late 18th century, either by Anders Ersson Hortans (b. 1730) or by the farm's son-in-law Pehr Mattsson Hortans (b. 1769). They are mentioned as the first peasants of the Nystun (= “new cottage”) house on the Hortans estate. Anders Abraham Andersson Hortans (Nystu Ant), born in 1856, was the last peasant of the family. He lived in the house until the late 1920s.

After that, the house was rented out, for example to the Breidablick Folk High School, which used it as a sculpture hall. The last resident in the 1940s was a shoemaker.

In the early 1950s, the museum section of the Sundom youth association bought the house to serve as a local heritage house and donated it to the municipality of Sulva. The museum section became a registered local heritage committee in 1953. In the early 1970s, the committee developed into a local heritage association. The house was inaugurated as a museum on August 12, 1962. The passionate school principal Ragnar Hagman had furnished the house mostly with items he had collected during the 1950s.

When Sundom was annexed to the city of Vaasa in 1973, the museum area (main building, windmill, and plot) also became the property of the City of Vaasa. In September 2018, the Sundom local heritage association bought the Sundom Museum with its buildings and is now responsible for its operations. The country house received its sheet metal roof in the autumn of 2019.
________________________________________
The Windmill

The mill is called the "Magnusas Nyback (Jåpes-Juss)" windmill. Johan Johansson Båtmästar (b. 1819) bought the mill around 1850 after he had lost his share of the estate he had been farming at the Båtmästar farm. His family lived in a small cottage west of the mill known as "Håbelkontin." He made his living mainly as a miller until the late 1860s, when he and his wife tragically drowned one spring day on weak ice on the Kaupunginselkä strait.

After his death, the mill was inherited by Gustaf Adolf Ehn Båtmästar (b. 1818), who was married to Brita Maria Magnusdotter Båtmästar (b. 1823). Later owners, through their children, included the families Lervik, Sandvik, Båtmästar, and Ekebohm. The two-level mill (upper and lower part) was moved to the museum area in the 1950s from Ernst Lervik’s farm, where it had been erected in 1819.
________________________________________
The Soldier’s Croft

There was already a soldier's croft in the Flaskareskäret area of Sundom during the 18th century. It is known that a soldier named Gustaf Adolf Herlin, born in 1745, lived in the croft from 1783 onward. His son Carl Gustaf most likely died on the battlefield of the Battle of Oravais year 1808.

The croft was moved to the museum area in the late 1990s. Before that, it had been sold and dismantled, with plans to move it to the island of Bergö as a summer cottage. However, the local heritage association repurchased the log frame and received permission to move it to the museum area.
The log frame was erected in the summer of 1998, and the house was protected with a tarp for the winter. The open fireplace and chimney were built in 1999, and a traditional old-style roof was also constructed. The croft was completed in its current state in 2006.

Text: https://sundom.fi/fi/kotiseutumuseo
Photo: Kaj Höglund / Ostrobothnian Museum