Liesjärvi National Park
The destination is managed by Metsähallitus.
Visitors to Korteniemi will learn about everyday life at a forest ranger's estate in the 1910s. The area's cultural landscape is maintained at the farm through traditional farming methods.
The grounds, including the buildings, gardens and crops of the former forest ranger estate, have remained almost unchanged for over a hundred years. During summer, life on the estate is very much like it was in the 1910s.
During summer the farm is home to indigenous Finnish farm animals: horse, cows, sheep, chickens and a rooster. Old traditionally Finnish crops are farmed in both the estates gardens and fields by traditional methods. Rye is cut with scythes, dried on racks and threshed with flails in the drying barn.
The purpose of this heritage farm is to preserve the cultural landscape, old buildings and species reliant on cultural heritage, as well as, to preserve folklore.
Today, Korteniemi is the only forest ranger estate maintained by Metsähallitus in Southern Finland, where the buildings and grounds have remained an intact entirety. Metsähallitus commissioned reports on both the history of the estate and the ways land was used in olden times, and on the basis of these reports a care and management plan was drafted in 1997 for the heritage farm.
Visiting Korteniemi Heritage Farm is free-of-charge. Themed tours for groups are available for a fee. We ask that groups inform the farm of their arrival in advance.
Directions and Maps
For directions to and information on public transportation to Korteniemi Heritage Farm see Liesjärvi National Park's directions and maps page.
Electronic Maps
- Excursionmap.fi of Metsähallitus
Services
A voyage back in time to what life was like a hundred years ago.- A tour of the heritage farm.
- Guided group tours available during summer. Guiding will be reserved in advance from Metsähallitus Customer Service sisasuomi(at)metsa.fi or +358 206 39 5270.
- Information on Liesjärvi National Park and its surrounding areas.
- An old smoke sauna which can be reserved from spring to autumn from Metsähallitus Customer Service hame(at)metsa.fi or +358 206 39 5270. The smoky steamed sauna can seat even a larger group.
A voyage back in time to what life was like a hundred years ago.Events
Visitors are welcome to partake in the farm's daily chores, as well as work days during which the whole community helps out at the farm or take part in work demonstrations, on which you can get more information on from Häme Nature Centre.
Korteniemi grounds
During summer the farm is home to indigenous Finnish farm animals: horse, cows, sheep and chickens and a rooster. Old traditionally Finnish crops are farmed in both the estates gardens and fields by traditional methods. The beautiful Maiden Pink has benefited from animals grazing in the area and people cutting down meadows and its habitat has grown little by little.
Nature Trails
The barn at Korteniemi, which functions as an information point, is the starting point for both the 1,5 km long Ahonnokka Nature Trail into old-growth forest, as well as marked trails into Liesjärvi National Park.
Services for School Groups
The farm organises themed guided activities for school groups, which are geared to the season they are held in and support the school curriculum. During these children learn about traditional handicrafts, farming and secrets of old-growth forests.
Services for the Disabled
- There is a parking area about 200 metres from Korteniemi Heritage Farm, from which visitors can access the grounds by wheelchair, but we recommend that those with wheelchairs have an assistant with them. Disabled visitors may also drive their cars right up to the grounds.
- There is a dry toilet for the disabled at the parking area.
- The farm house is accessible by wheelchair, with some assistance. We ask that disabled visitors inform the farm of their arrival in advance.
More Information on the History of Korteniemi Heritage Farm
Construction of the forest ranger estate at the secluded location in Korteniemi began during the 1880's, when the Finnish government bought the lands and built an additional room to the main house, where district forest surveyors could lodge during their inspection trips.
Metsähallitus took part in construction expenses of forest ranger estates and monitored the quality of craftsmanship and the amount of timber used in the building process. There was no one blueprint in use for forest ranger estates, rather each represented local building styles.
In addition to the main house other protected buildings at Korteniemi dating from the change of the century 1800 - 1900 are the shed, the livestock barn, the equipment room, the stable, the smoke sauna, the woodshed and the drying barn. Metsähallitus has restored these buildings under the supervision of the National Board of Antiquities and the forest ranger estate is now a wonderful destination for experiencing what life was like one hundred years ago: The forest ranger's family lived in the main room; the adjacent guest quarters still have the same rose wallpaper they did when forest surveyors stayed there during their inspection trips. The grounds also include protected buildings which were constructed later on.
A Forest Ranger's Tasks
The duties of the forest ranger included observation and monitoring of crown-owned forests in order to prevent forest fires, illegal logging and poaching, as well as, assisting foresters and termination of predators, meaning, when needed, he had to arrange large carnivore hunts. In order to be appointed a forest ranger one had to know how to count, read and write, and he was provided a gun with which to protect himself.
At first, being a forest ranger was a part time job in addition to farming the estates small fields and caring for the livestock, but from the beginning of the 1900s being a forest ranger was seen as full time employment and his duties expanded to include all forest management and care. The men from the Lönngren family held the forest ranger's position at Korteniemi for over a hundred years.
A Childhood at Korteniemi
For the forest ranger's children life at Korteniemi at the beginning of the 1900s was much the same as it was for children on other small farms: as the family themselves farmed the estates small fields and took care of the few cows, chickens and sheep, the family's children were needed as helpers even before they reached school-age. Attending school was itself a chore as the school was many kilometres away and the road did not reach the farm, rather children had to row a boat across the lake or during winter ski across its ice and then continue by foot.
There was however time to play and fun even then and occasionally visitors, with curious objects in their baggage, would stop by at the farm. The fanciest toys the forest ranger's daughters had were cardboard cigarette cases used by forest workers, the tops of which were decorated with elegant pictures. Girls collected feathers, pretty stones and other beautiful objects in these cases and stored them in the attic.
This is the webpage nationalparks.fi/korteniemi
