I mentioned that on my first full day in Estonia, I went to Lahemaa National Park, and one of the things we did was stop by an abandoned manor house. Manor houses were built by the Baltic Germans (who weren’t necessarily Germans, as other nationalities were in Estonia and the Baltic. However, the majority of Baltic Germans were either actually German or of German descent.) in the Russian Empire, as they were generally upper class. Not only that, but they were gifted land as an incentive to fight in the Estonian War of Independence (1918-20). So, these houses symbolized their opulence, and boy did the owners take advantage. I can’t remember who owned this house, but our guide told us that they left prior to World War II, came back later to try and restore it and run a hotel on the property, ran out of money, and left for good. This isn’t a unique case, as there are plenty of manors dotting the Estonian landscape, as the Estonian government doesn’t have the money to restore them. However, if you have ever wanted to buy a manor, this one’s asking price is roughly 200,000 euros; others may be the same or more expensive, but renovations are going to be super costly. To get a better appreciation for the state of decay, here are some of my pictures:

Front of the house.

Better view of the front.

Back of the house.

Side view of the house.

Here’s the courtyard. It was in pretty good shape, as you can see. One can only imagine what it’d be like if the place was completely restored.

Some run down buildings on the property.

It’s always fascinating seeing nature reclaim things.