DAMMSTUGAN
As heard...The original cottage next to lake Ältaren was built many hundreds of years ago in the 1600's and was home to the damm-keeper who was responsible for the hatch on the lake. The hatch provided power to the waterwheel in the Masugn which pushed the bellows to it's enormous furnace. The damm-hatch remains under the bridge on road 55 at the southern part of the property. The lake still supplies the Björndammen village with water.
After the iron production in the Masugn ended the cottage was used as a summer home, the last renters was the widow of the forest-keeper who spent the summers at the cottage with her sister. Electricity was brought to the house as well as a water pump to provide summer water to the old kitchen. The small house of one bedroom and a kitchen was bought from Holmen Skog in 1998 by Marian Ahlberg (my mother) who renovated the house and then together with the women in Dunker started an economic association with the aim of creating seasonal work for women and young people living in the countryside. The association ran the café for many years with Lena Haraldsson, Susanne Hellsberg and Marian Ahlberg in the lead. The women and farm wife's in the area helped out, worked at the front counter or baked tons of cakes and buns in their kitchens to be sold at the Cafe. Many of the young people around the area have had summer jobs at the café since it opened in 1998 and lots of them return as adults and bring their kids to visit. Mom sold the little cafe in 2010, many owners have since come and gone over the years until Mike and Mimmi had the opportunity to buy back this gem into their own family. |
"Many myths are told about the ghost at the cottage. We haven't seen or heard a whisper of this spirit which is sometimes said to be in the shape of a darling deaf little boy and sometimes a handsome quiet young man, but we look forward to one day perhaps meeting one of these legends... "
Masugnen. Charcoal sketch by Boberg 1916
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