Gotska Sandön

THE LIGHTHOUSE SETTLEMENT
The lighthouse keeper’s house is now the park warden’s residence and was built in 1858-1859 at the same time as the lighthouse and several other buildings. Nowadays many of these buildings have been converted and extended. In the cluster of buildings around the lighthouse, a nature room with a local heritage museum has been opened in the old school house. The building was built in 1939 and school classes were held there until 1963.

In the little yard just in front of the lighthouse keeper’s house there are a number of objects that remind us of the old days, for instance one of the canons from the stranded Russian steamership, Wsadnik. Beside the canon stands an old wooden windlass. The high signal mast was used in the old days to signal to the lighthouse ship, “Kopparstenarna” which lay anchored at the shallows by the same name north of the island. The signal flag was hoisted here when there were provisions or mail to be collected. The mine, just beside it, is German, and drifted ashore at Hamnudden (Harbour Point) during WW2.

In the lighthouse keeper’s garden there is an old anchor that was salvaged from the beach at Säludden (Seal Point). Another iron anchor, from the motor sailboat, Willy, which capsized at Säludden in 1920, lies in the manager’s garden. Behind the schoolhouse, there are two old wooden boats under a roof. The smaller one is called Dockan (The Doll) and was built by Karl Bourgström. The larger boat is a refugee boat from Estland and came to the island loaded full of refugees during WW2.

THE NATURE ROOM AND LOCAL HERITAGE MUSEUM

The old schoolhouse now houses a nature room and local heritage museum. The building was erected in 1939 and served as a school until 1963. In the former classroom on the ground floor there is an exhibition about how Gotska Sandön came to be and about the animal life on the island. On the upper floor you can read about the history of the lighthouses. In another room you can read about the stranded ships, see galleon figures from the stranded bark, “Ester Smeed”, pieces of old wrecks, Gottberg’s pistol etc. The nature room with local heritage museum was set up and inaugurated in the summer of 1983.

THE OLD FARM
The so-called ”era of private ownership” lasted from 1783 – 1859. It began when Benedictius rented the island from the state from 1783- 1801. That was when the pioneer era began in earnest. Construction of the Gamla Gården (the Old Farm) which was called “The New Place” at the time, was begun and it became the centre for operations on the island. In 1748 the first building was erected, followed by several others, the dwelling house, cattle barn, stables and storage buildings. Land was broken, field crops planted, and meadows around the farm were fenced in for grazing. A pattern of fields and pastures emerged. They kept livestock such as cattle, horses, oxen, pigs, goats and hens. Much too intensive sheep farming was undertaken and at times there were up to several hundred sheep which heavily taxed the nature reserves of the island.

After Benedictius’ bankruptcy the island was sold to Stenberij and different private owners followed in succession. None of the private owners who attempted to make a living by using the island’s natural resources, particularly the forests, has managed to avoid bankruptcy. The island was purchased by the state on two occasions, in 1859 and 1861. The lighthouses and lighthouse settlement were built thus leaving Gamla Gården abandoned by everyone, except “Madame Söderlund” and her four children, who made their home there. The farm was used sporadically at certain times. The state continued to log the forests on a large-scale and during this time the buildings were used as dwellings for the loggers. Around the turn of the century the workers who were helping to plant the forest and grass around the lighthouse settlement lived at the farm.

You can barely distinguish the foundations of a few of the other buildings that have stood here, for example a larger farmhouse, the so-called “Manor house” where Petter Gottberg lived. If you open the southern door of Gottberg’s jail you will find a notice board, with photographs of the buildings that existed at Gamla gården.

ST. ANNAE

The lighthouse keeper, Karl Bourgström, had a hunting and fishing cottage built at St. Annae around 1900. Nowadays it is called “Bourgström’s”. The cottage is known from references to it in “Gotska Sandön” a book by Albert Engström, a writer and artist. There is a drawing of the cottage in the book, both the exterior and interior and it looks exactly the same today as it did then. Inside the cottage there are a number of decorations painted on cupboard doors and drawer fronts. These paintings were done by Albert Engström’s daughter Malin who was married to Karl Bourgström’s son, Bror. The cottage and outhouses are partly built of driftwood and shipwrecked goods, the cellar is probably an old boat steerage hut. Cupboards and other objects from boats have contributed to the furnishings, and some of the small windows are made of old boat vents. The cottage was used as a summer house until 1970 and the last private owner was the Bourgström estate.

NYMAN’S

About 300 meters east of Bourgström’s lies Nyman’s cottages. The first was built in 1926 as a hunting and fishing cottage by the lighthousekeeper at the time, Oskar Ekman. The huts and boathouse were built later. In 1941 the cottage was purchased by a shipping consultant Jaques Nyman, who had grown up on Sandön as the lighthousekeeper’s son. He used the place as summer cottage until his death in 1970. There is a well with drinking water beside the cottages. When you have taken a long walk it is refreshing to quench your thirst with a drink of fresh cold water.

TOMTEBO

The lighthouse keeper, Karl Bourgström had Tomtebo built in 1899. The cottage was used primarily as accommodation for the seal hunters who came every year. Albert Engström stayed here on a couple of occasions during the 1920s, when he was on Gotska Sandön writing his book about the island. Engstöm’s daughter, Malin, who was married to Karl Bourgström’s son Bror, decorated the fireplace in the living room in 1924. The exterior of the cottage is covered with shingles, so-called “stems” from the load of a stranded ship. The cottage was named after the two men from Fårö who built it, as they claimed to have seen two of Santa’s elves (tomtenissar) busy at work there, thus Tomtebo!

GOTSKA SANDÖN’ S CHAPEL

The first chapel on Gotska Sandön was built in 1894 and served as both chapel and school. In 1934 it burnt down and the school was moved to the lighthouse keeper’s house. There was no new chapel built until 1950. The new construction was initiated by a sea captain named Hans Hansson, better known as “Captain Bölja (Wave)” in the Swedish Sea Rescue Society. In 1948 he wrote a letter to the editor in Svenska Dagbladet, a big Swedish daily, suggesting that funds be collected for building a new chapel on Gotska Sandön. His letter was read by Fru Karin Ekengren on a train trip to the west coast. “When she thought about the severe, isolated life on Gotska Sandön and compared it with the comforts of her pleasant seaside existence in the resort of Marsstrand she decided to respond to Hansson’s appeal. After speaking to him she provided the entire funds for the construction of the chapel herself. The new chapel was inaugurated on Tuesday, August 29, 1950.

On August 29, 2000, Gotska Sandön’s chapel celebrated its 50th anniversary and at the same time inaugurated the newly-built bell tower, pictured above. The old bell tower was rotten and had been torn down for safety reasons.

This is what is written in the lighthouse diary from January 22, 1934: The island’s chapel with annex has burnt to the ground this afternoon. The fire, the origin of which seems to be unexplainable since no fires have been light since Thursday, January 18, was discovered when my sons and I smelled smoke on our way home from the forest where we had been cutting firewood. When we arrived home we asked the watch in the lighthouse if anything suspicious had been sighted from that direction. It was then 16:30 hours. When sparks were sighted over the woods all able men hurried there with equipment, but the chapel was already nearly burnt to the ground.

The lighthouse personnel set to work at once to put the fire out and three men were sent after water, which was brought by a horse and wagon. Two of the oaks standing at the church had caught on fire, but that was extinguished immediately. The site of the fire was kept under surveillance until the fire was completely extinguished. All the effects belonging to the church and school as well as most of those belonging to the Swedish Red Cross were completely destroyed. The cause of the fire was presumed to be faulty flues. Above the school room the ceiling was covered by loose sawdust that could easily have been lit by sparks from the flue. The church’s fireplace had been lit on December 24 and 25, 1933. On January 18, 1934 a fire was lit only in the school stove. On Sunday January 21, 1934, personnel passed the church several times, noticing nothing untoward. Probably sparks from the flue caused a fire in the double flooring in the attic which broke out first on the afternoon of January 22, 1934. The flues had been swept latest May 16, 1933. Signed O. Ekman.

THE GRAVEYARD

In a forest glade, not quite a kilometer south of Gamla gården lies Gotlska Sandön’s graveyard. It was consecrated on July 2, 1845 but served as a burial ground even earlier. Most of the people who have died on the island, or been found drowned in shipwrecks have been laid to rest here. In former times, when visits from clergy were less frequent, funerals were held in the usual manner with members of the lighthouse personnel officiating. Before the grave was covered a wooden drum was made. This was set on the lid of the coffin and after that the grave was covered and a wooden lid placed on the drum. When the priest came to the island next he could place the three scoops of earth signifying the completion of the funeral on the coffin by means of the drum.

THE RUSSIAN GRAVEYARD

Gotska Sandön got its second graveyard, ”Ryska Kyrkogården” (the Russian Graveyard) in 1864. It is situated in Franska bukten (French Bay) a few hundred meters inside the shore dune. Some twenty-odd seamen who drowned in the wreck of the Russian naval clipper “Wsadnik”, are buried here. The area is fenced in and an Orthodox crucifix – made of wood is raised.

BOURGSTRÖM’S MAUSOLEUM

In the year 1899, according to Hjalmar Söderlund’s notes, a mausoleum (grave chamber) was built by lighthouse keeper Hjälmar Söderlund. In the mausoleum there are four coffins, in which Hjalmar, his father Anders, mother ”Madame” and a son are laid to rest. On his father’s coffin Hjalmar has written on a sheet of paper: “Here lies Anders Johansson Söderlund under the protection of the Almighty, born January 26, 1813 in Noche Chatarina, Liffland, died May 25, 1858 on Gotska Sandön. May the mercy of God, peace and His blessing rest over his remains and memory”.

On his mother’s coffin there is a sheet of paper with the following text: “Here rests the widow, Johanna Albertina Söderlund, under the protection of God, born May 27, 1815 in Berga Österåker Uppland – she moved to Gotska Sandön on July 29, 1854. She became a widow on May 26, 1858 but remained loyally on the island until her death on April 8, 1906. She reached the high age of Ninety years, ten months and eleven days. May the mercy of God, peace and His blessing rest over her remains and memory”.

KINESENS GRAV (THE CHINESE MAN’S GRAVE)

On the northern side, right out in the middle of the “burg”, the high level sand embankment with scarce vegetation, lies the Gums or so-called Chinese hill, with old dry pines on the crest. The hill is a remainder of a wandering dune, left as a so-called “witness” when the ridge dune wandered further inwards on the island. In a deep hollow up on the hill lies “the grave of the Chinese man” a round stone-setting, made of white silicon stones in the shape of a sun-cross. It is said that a Chinese man, who was found drowned on the island, lies buried there.

BREDSAND’S LIGHTHOUSE

In 1858-59 two identical lighthouses were built on the north-western part of the island. The lighthouses created a transit bearing warning for the Kopparstenarna banks lying 10 nautical miles north of the island. Nowadays the northernmost of these lighthouses is set on a steel construction covered with asbestos. The lighthouse is 24 meters high and built on strong wooden piles screwed down into the sand. The southern lighthouse was torn down in 1903 and replaced by a secondary light which casts a fixed red light in a sector over the above-named shallows.

TÄRNUDDEN’S LIGHTHOUSE STATION

As a complement to the lighthouses at Bredsand, a lighthouse was erected at Tärnudden (Gull Point) in 1883. This was in use until 1913, when it was abandoned due to wandering sand dunes. The lighthouse was taken away the same year and moved to Idö outside of Västervik. The baker’s cottage is still standing at present and you can see the bake oven through a window on the gable. All the rest of the station is nearly buried in the sand dune. The second building housed a military signal station during the First and Second World Wars. If you look up the corner trim you can see that the house has been added on to. During WWI the roof lay under the join. When WWII started the forest had grown higher and they had to add a storey to the house.

On the shoreline, at low water and when the sea has washed away the sand, you can see parts of foundations from the lighthouse and on the sand dune above remains of the well are visible.

HAMNUDDEN’S LIGHTHOUSE

A modern, braced steel mast with a beacon has replaced the old lighthouse at Hamnudden (Harbour Point). The new one was raised in 1971 (when the old one was abandoned) and is powered by solar cells with a battery backup.

KYRKUDDEN’S LIGHTHOUSE

The most easterly point on the island is Kyrkudden (Church point). As far as we know there has never been a church or chapel there, but the name can refer to the ancient stone cairn that lies in on the ridge. The cairn was easily visible before the ridge began to be overgrown in later years. The lighthouse at Kyrkudden was built in 1913 in order to act as a transit bearing with the light at Hamnudden.