Memories of Former Residents

The Karkalinniemi peninsula has been permanently settled since the 16th century. Over the centuries, human activity has affected the nature of the area in many ways. The peninsula has witnessed activities such as slash-and-burn farming, field clearing and cultivation, meadow mowing and livestock grazing. Forests have also been felled in Karkali for producing charcoal, for example. Nowadays, you can find the remains of an old coal pit by the looping trail in the north-western part of the Strict Nature Reserve. It is a level area that is round, higher than its surroundings and overgrown with spruce. Forests were felled and cattle grazed in the peninsula until the 1950s.

There have been three crofts in the current Strict Nature Reserve: Lepola, Tuomihieta and Kukinhuone. The oldest of them, the Kukinhuone croft, has been in ruins since the 19th century. The last croft in the Karkalinniemi peninsula, Lepola, had residents until the 1910s. Now all that remains of Lepola is the oven’s foundation, a pile of rocks in a dense spruce stand.

The Archbishop's Era

At the turn of the 20th century, Karkali was also known as the summer place of archbishop Johansson. He had nut-gathering trails cleared in Karkali’s herb-rich forests. In 1902, a pavilion was built at the tip of the Karkalinniemi peninsula as a base for the nut-gathering excursions and to admire the lake views toward the Karjalohja Church. Today, all you can see are the supporting stones of the pavilion. The view from the pavilion toward Karjalohja is now almost completely blocked by trees.

The main reason for preserving the vegetation in the current Strict Nature Reserve is probably that both the archbishop and his son Kustavi Kaila were great nature lovers. Among other things, they strived to protect rare species in the peninsula and preserve its natural state as far as possible.

Establishing the Strict Nature Reserve

The ownership of the Karkalinniemi peninsula was transferred at the end of the 1950s, and plans for a cottage village and an outdoor recreation area were introduced. However, after public discussion, the state acquired an area of 100 hectares in the peninsula for nature conservation, and Karkali Strict Nature Reserve was legally established in 1964. The area was transferred from the Finnish Forest Research Institute to Metsähallitus at the beginning of 2002.

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