Salt hut
Salt cabins is called in several places at the Baltic Sea beach of Usedom standing old huts with thatched roof roofs without windows, usually in half-timbered construction method with clay smeared subjects. In them was salt stored.
Historical background
The island population, which was extremely poor until the late 19th century, was urgently dependent on fishing as a livelihood. When the herring swarms on the coast of Usedom were particularly plentiful between 1815 and 1845 , the Prussian state took some measures to support the fishermen and supply the population.
When there were no cans, the fish had to be salted and stored in wooden barrels to make them durable. An administrative regulation said that this salting had to happen immediately after the catch on the beach in order to counteract spoilage. In addition, the state provided the rock salt, which came to Usedom either by water via Stettin or Swinoujscie or by land via Lüneburg , tax-free.
The construction of salt works to store the salt became a requirement from 1820 for the purpose of state control of the salting process.
Most of the Usedomer salt works that are still preserved today date from around 1880–1890.
When canning was introduced in the early 20th century, the salt works fell into disrepair. Today they have been completely restored and are under monument protection. Some are privately owned and are used to store tools and fishing nets. Others serve tourist purposes.
Examples
- Koserow salt huts on the pier, a tourist complex of 15 huts with museum Uns Fischer's work hut (documentation of fishing equipment), smoked fish stalls, fish restaurants and souvenir shops
- Zempiner salt huts at the beach access in the dunes, privately owned, one dated 1882, were removed in 2011 during the construction of the Kurplatz.