On the National day I went for at walk around Petersvik in Sundsvall. Passing SCA’s paper mill in Ortviken, Noted that the truck’s that deliver the timber to the mill does not hold up for the National day… After a rather long walk after something that once have been a paved walkway I arrive at a small beach strip. A patch that once was a football field adjoins the beach and out on a stone in the water sits a cormorant and dries the wings.
After a while I continue on a road up into the forest. Leafy, not to say lush greenery. A couple of cars passing from the area but I see no people here. A strange almost spooky feeling comes over me when the large villas from beginning of the last century appears in the greenery, all abandoned and with covered windows. I saw 4-5 villas after the main road but there were more after the other roads in the area.
The large summer villas were built during a period between 1880 and 1910 by the wealthy manufacturers and traders of the time. During a period after the First World War and to the 60s, the area served as a recreation area for the public and with summer homes for children and young people.
The reason why everything is deserted and closed now is because the municipality has ransomed the land here. Plans exist (or existed, are uncertain about the outcome) to build a large container harbour here.