Pinnapå: Apladalen

“Listen to the singing of the spruce, by whose roots your home is bound!” This was an appeal formulated by the elementary school teacher Jonas Oscar Hagstrand and the head master Carl Fredricsson in spring 1920. It heralded the establishment of Värnamo Local History Society. Through a leasehold from Värnamo rectory, the society was given half a hectare of land in Apladalen for their activities.

The area was enclosed with an old-fashioned roundpole fence to keep the animals in the former cow pasture. Members collected buildings and objects from the old agrarian society and brought them to the site. Five years later, a folklore museum was opened in the cottage Ryggåsstugan, the first building in Apladalen.

Income from the popular annual rural community festivities provided funds for further buildings and collections. The old cow pasture soon became a well-organised open-air museum and gave Småland a tourist attraction and a well-known concept within nature and culture tourism.