The parish blacksmith Svanberg lived on the premises around the mid-1700s. The building was later know as “Raskens” or “Leather–Sandell“. The last name refers to the tanner Sandell who lived at the farm in the early 1900s and is said to have used one chamber of the the cottage for tanning leather. The rest of the cottage was rented out to the tailor Emanuel Lindqvist.
The cottage now belongs to the Pargas phone company but is rented since 1983 by the Pargas Martha Association, which also renovated the cottage. During renovations the was moved to the back of the house. Previously the cottage was accessed through a high staircase from the yard.
The local Martha Association uses the cabin for meetings and social gatherings. Since 2006, the cottage has been a special spot for the youngest Martha circuit in Pargas, “the Brinkas girls”. The Pargas Martha Association was founded in 1909.
“Roadside Ulla”
Ulla lived in a small cottage below the Brinkasstugan at the crossroad. Ulla´s name was Ulrika Nordström, and she was born in Pargas in 1845. The small house had originally been built for the Finnish sexton, Jacob Henriksson, in the early 1800s. Ulla moved into the house in 1880 and lived there until her death in 1918. Ulla remained unmarried and worked as a “wise-old woman” for people in Old Town who used to visit her. She was known for her ability to cure toothaches. Ulla used live leeches which she she placed on the gum below the diseased tooth. Leeches were kept in a glass jar in her cottage window.
Ulla was a real character, once she received cleaning help from the neighbor, the baker Holmbergs daughter, Hjördis. As Hjördis was dusting Ulla´s well worn carpet the whole thing broke in pieces. Witnessing the inident Ulla cried out; Oh dear me, my best carpet!”
Ulla was very interested in gossip and was known to embellish and exaggerate her stories. Ulla once revealed something sensitive about the confirmation candidates to the priest. The youths retaliated with filling her chimney with snow. Little boys would also throw small animals and other insects in to her chimney and the animals ended falling in her kettle. The chimney was capped in orded to prevent further pranks. The cottage was eventually demolished following Ulla’s death as the house had not been erected on a real plot.
