Jukka Vesterinen and Lena Lindroth-Vesterinen

What before?

The Kerkonkoski region was under water during the Yoldia Sea period approximately 9,700 years ago. The three highest mountains were visible as islands: Palvavuori, Rautavuori, and Murtovuori. 

Kerkonkoski is located near the border areas of the Treaty of Pähkinäsaari, which was signed in 1323. In ancient times, the Sami people roamed these lake areas in Central Finland, hunting and fishing. Gradually, they moved north as the Häme people's hunting and fishing grounds increased in these areas. 

In the 16th century, King Gustav Vasa of Sweden wanted to settle the eastern border areas, vast wildernesses, and tie them to Sweden. The earliest settlement in this area was concentrated in Kerkonjoensuu, in the village of Vesterilä. The first piece of land, Kerkoneräsija, was purchased by Tuomas Korhonen in the mid-16th century, and he settled there permanently. The Korhonen family stone in the village of Vesterilä serves as a reminder of this.

The southeast-northwest waterways and lakes formed during the Ice Age served as transport routes, as did the cart tracks that emerged on the ridges and later the roads and ice roads in winter. The vital mill was located at Kerkonkoski, near the rapids and hydropower. As the population grew in the village of Vesterilä and after the Great Partition, settlements and farms with their crofts gradually spread throughout the region. Farms that were almost self-sufficient and agriculture and livestock farming developed. Adversity, wars, the Great Northern War, and years of famine and starvation took their toll. 

A part of world history also touched Kerkonkoski when field fortifications and moats were built on the southern bank of the river in 1916–17. The reason for this was the threat of a German army landing on the west coast of Finland and advancing towards St. Petersburg in connection with the First World War.   

What now?

A large proportion of the baby boomers born after the war jumped on one of those ten buses and left their hometowns. They set out to build an urban, industrial society. Each in their own way and in their own field.

Society's values have changed. The world has become globalized. Our daily bread, even our food, does not come from our neighbor's or our own fields. Self-sufficiency is an unknown concept, or at least one that has been forgotten. Our children and grandchildren have adopted today's values. For them, the countryside is nostalgia or an image of warm summer days at the beach sauna, heated by grandpa. Or mosquitoes buzzing around. 

Structural change has been evident in Kerkonkoski, as elsewhere in rural areas, and has seemingly taken its toll and led to passivity. Primary production, agriculture, forestry, and fishing have undergone the greatest change. Small farms have disappeared. Agriculture now operates in large units, on an almost industrial scale. Alongside this production, I believe that local production, organic or otherwise, will naturally emerge as a necessity. Low-profile production and micro-entrepreneurship based on expertise and with a reputation that carries far. Summer cottages, vacation homes, and remote work opportunities bring life to the area, provided that the connections really work. Everything requires an open mind and, above all, realism.