Molpehällorna - Korsnäs
archipelago
As its name suggests in Swedish, the over two-kilometre
long island Molpehällorna was once four separate islets,
which the land uplift caused to merge into a single island. Molpehällorna
offers a variety of landscapes. The northern part of the island
is a rugged and rocky juniper heath. Juniper shrubs are also found
elsewhere on the flat rocks. In the central and southern portions
there are groves of trees, reed-covered marsh, heaths and small
inlets. A large tidepool separates the northern and central portions
of the island. Rocky beaches surround the flat rocks, occasionally
interrupted by shoreline meadows and cliffs.
The former coast guard station is located on the southern
portion of the island at Söderhällorna. Metsähallitus
and Korsnäs municipality have renovated the station. It can
accommoded 20 to 30 people and has a kitchen and sauna. Metsähallitus
rents the station to guided groups (contact information below).
In the summer of 2001 a nature path was opened on Molpehällorna.
It starts and ends at the station and crosses the island to the
cliffs on the western beach. One path turns to the north towards
the memorial site of the Gulf of Bothnia's first beacon, which
according to sources was built in 1668. It was a "vippbåk"
- a beacon with a rocker arm - between 10 and 12 metres tall,
and manned until 1681. A local tale says that the lighthouse-keeper
Jakob Rautio, who lived on Molpehällorna from 1790 until
1808, was killed by the Russians who then also burned the beacon.
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