History

The area of ​​Kätkävaara village has been inhabited since the Stone Age. The diverse beautiful nature has been attracting people for millennia. The largest population concentrations during the Stone Age were in Vaajoki River in the Mustamaa area. Since then, settlement has been concentrated in the Vaajoki and Kätkäjärvi areas. In Kätkäjärvi, the forester’s croft was located as early as the 18th century.

The current roads were built in the 1950s in connection with settlement activities. The frontmen and their families were placed in an uninhabited wilderness. The family was given a piece of land on which to build a house and cattle shelter as well as fields. Life was tough, for not even building supplies were available. In 1957, a new school in Kätkävaara was also built. It was built with a carpentry course as a model school and the building has been made very carefully using the best knowledge of its time. The building is still in excellent condition. The school currently had about 70 students. School activities were discontinued in 1996.

Hotel and camping activities in the building started in 2008. Nearby Kätkävaara was soon found to be an excellent place to watch the northern lights and the midnight sun. The Vaajoki waterfront area was acquired in connection with the hotel in 2011, where a field for motor homes was built. In 2015, a beach sauna and a log cabin were also opened. The coastal area is a flood-prone area, as melt water from large wilderness areas discharges through the Vaajoki River into the Kemijoki River. In the early part of the last century, the hotel beach was known as “Lompsalanssi”. When the river was used for swimming at that time, the bills were paid in a “pool balance”. The predominance of the coastal area is natural sand, where the groundwater tends to rise to the surface as soon as possible.