Light that gives hope

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Last year marked the 105th anniversary of the Chesma lighthouse. I don’t know if any of the interested parties remembered this date, but I learned about the anniversary from Konstantin Vasilyevich Gnetnev’s article “Earthly Stars” five years ago.

He lives outside the Arkhangelsk region. In 1999, he dreamed of visiting Chesmensky on the occasion of the centenary, but he was unable to do this due to difficulties with transport. I also know how difficult and expensive it is to get to our Pomeranian villages. There must be a great desire, and I have enough of that - nostalgia comes from childhood.

Last summer I took a small cruise to the places of my homeland. On a warm June day, a small company: Valentina Gerasimovna, the acting head of the lighthouse, her eldest son Oleg, who wants to become the head, the village doctor Tatyana - my classmate, their children and grandchildren, went to the lighthouse on a carbass.

The sea is completely calm; from time to time we are accompanied by sea hares, showing their mustachioed faces. The children are delighted! The old motor, which has served its purpose for a long time, stops every now and then. But here is a rocky cove, we land and unload.

Not far away, the lighthouse tower proudly rises above the greenery of the forest. We walk through a picturesque pine forest with piles of mossy boulders. Traces of the consequences of glaciation on the Chesma Cape are especially clearly visible. Here you can find not only boulders embedded in the ground, but also kamas - stone seas. And the mountain itself on which the lighthouse stands was left by a glacier. And now a smooth ascent begins, a picture opens that everyone who has ever been here dreams of seeing.

My heart skips a beat with delight and beauty! Among the greenery against the background of the blue sky is a magnificent building, an ocher color unprecedented in these parts with a white cornice and corners. Undoubtedly, the lighthouse building for the Onega Peninsula is an architectural monument of the 19th century, the one and only.

As you get closer, you realize with bitterness how dilapidated the building is; the plaster from the tower is crumbling along with the brick. The section where the construction date was posted also fell off. But during my childhood, the lighthouse was a perfectly groomed dandy, with whom it was impossible not to fall in love forever. Earthly stars are no longer needed!

From the memoirs of Dmitry Efimovich Syukhin, who worked for several years as a lighthouse keeper:

“The Chesme lighthouse was built in the second half of the 19th century, I don’t remember the exact date. The mountain on which it stands is called Zmeinaya, there are usually a lot of snakes, including poisonous vipers, in the surrounding area; according to stories, they killed 40 of them a day.

The lighthouse was apparently built by residents of the surrounding villages. 5,000 rubles were spent on construction. gold. I think that the bricks were made at the construction site, and not brought. There was a good road under the mountain towards the Talets well to the sea. At that time, there was still a clay mound on the seashore. Clay was brought into that place, but there was already enough sand.

The brick was most likely fired and dried here. When delivering to the construction site, we had to go around the mountain, since on the adjacent side the climb was very steep and narrow. This reason can explain the presence of a good road around the mountain.

French equipment was used as a light source - a kerosene-Fresnel incandescent apparatus. Its light was visible 17.7 miles away. The kerosene was very clean and did not leave any soot when burned. Glimpses of fire were produced by rotating the lens around a circle of flame located at the focal point.

The rotation was carried out by means of a clock mechanism; its activation was provided by a weight of 9.5 pounds. The lamp mechanism has a mercury lock, thanks to which the combustible mixture is reliably transferred to the channels of the rotating parts of the lighthouse. At that time, they knew nothing about the dangers of mercury, and sometimes they played with mercury balls.”

A story about the history of technical improvement in the work of lighthouses can be the most interesting material for an excursion. The Chesme lighthouse could be an ideal tourist site. Not far away is Letnyaya Zolotitsa, where the construction of a tourist base is being completed.

For us, visiting guests, Oleg conducts a tour. First we inspect the building. Empty cold rooms with huge windows and high ceilings. 12 years ago I came here with my children to show them a real, exemplary lighthouse. “I’m not leaving anywhere from here!” - exclaimed the daughter, climbing the mountain. In the evening, when we were sent to spend the night in these rooms, they warned us that it was scary there.

Well, what a sparsely inhabited “castle” - without ghosts! It's good that the nights are white in the summer! Oleg showed us everything exclusively, being curious, we even looked into the basement and attic. We climbed the iron spiral staircase to the lighthouse tower. Lepota!!! We admire it! We breathe in the healing sea air.

Next, we begin to explore the surrounding area. There is one charming place at the lighthouse - the Talets spring well. As a child, we went to him for tea water with buckets on a rocker, and for us at that time this action was a bit distant, rather heavy and scary, perhaps because of the abundance of emotions we had once experienced, and this well was fixed in our memory. We take a bucket and hit the road, a path runs along the subhill, there used to be a lot of strawberries in the grass along the slope, there are probably now, but it’s not time yet.

From Talts we make our way along an overgrown road to the Chesme backwater, where, as before, horses roam at low tide to escape the midges. I cannot find any traces of a clay mound. We walk along the coast, rounding the cape; on our last visit here we saw a magnificent specimen of the black velvet viper.

The place is wild, full of animals! Everywhere we come across elk plows, the clubfooted owner of the taiga also visits the lighthouse, and on our way seals bask on the coastal rocks. I’m checking to see if the islands of the Bogorodsk herb - thyme - have been preserved. Even the tiniest pinch of dry White Sea thyme makes the taste of tea unique.

Many delightful words have been said and written by writers and travelers about our northern nature. As if A.A. Zhilinsky wrote about the surroundings of the Chesme lighthouse in the book “The Far North of European Russia”: “In the North there is no usual pattern in the surrounding nature. Here the eye is every minute occupied with more and more new pictures of northern nature, sometimes harsh and gloomy, menacing, like the hopeless polar night and the evil burning blizzard of a long winter, sometimes charming, like the never-setting midnight sun, the boundless Icy the sea, like the northern lights full of deep mystical meaning, like the sound of eternal northern forests.

By the time we returned from our walk, the hostess had heated the stove, prepared dinner, and set the table. The house was filled with ringing voices, the children were frolicking, excited by new impressions. There were always children at the lighthouse; for some it became a homeland; my brother Yuri was born here.

Everyone sat down at the table and celebrated the anniversary according to Russian custom. Every soul is happy about the holiday.

Joy and sadness often go hand in hand. Valentina’s husband, who was the head of the lighthouse, was also remembered. In late autumn 2003, he left the lighthouse and never returned. There were no witnesses to what happened, the man disappeared, and they could not find him. At the dawn of the formation of the lighthouse service there were quite a few tragedies associated with the death of people, and they still exist today.

Lighthouse workers still work in extreme conditions, but such is the specificity of this service, and you need to be prepared not only for the romance of an unusual profession.

In one of the publications of past years about lighthouses, I read the following information: “We have lost these monuments of engineering architecture and Pomeranian culture irretrievably. Neither the museums of the regional center, nor the hydrography archive (they were lost in a fire) have a complete set of photographs of these unique monuments, not to mention models.”

Fortunately, the Chesme lighthouse is still alive. The sailors can still see its light behind the stern, but will the huge old spruce tree growing under the mountain soon remain the only keeper of the lighthouse? She must have witnessed the birth of the Earth Star, but she is unable to prevent it from going out.

Chesme lighthouse! What does the name say? As a child, I didn’t like it: it was incomprehensible and difficult to pronounce. This name is an echo of the historical events of 1770, which swept from the southern seas to the shores of the White Sea. The Russian fleet destroyed Turkish ships in Chesme Bay.

It is unlikely that the cape was nameless until the second half of the 18th century. While still living in Pushlakht, I often heard from adults: “I’ll go to Chishnemu.” Chishnema, in ancient sailing directions - Chishminsky - perhaps this is an erroneous pronunciation, or perhaps an adapted Sami toponym, there are many of them on the Onega Peninsula.

The format is “nem” - cape, “chish”, probably from “cheksh”, “chekch” - autumn camp of nomads. There is also a river Chiksha on the Chikshozero peninsula, and 10 km from the lighthouse there is a Sami toponym meaning a winter stop.

One of the reasons, in my opinion, why the cape was named Chesmensky is its consonance with the old, and the other is physical-geographical. In the book by E.M. Murzaev “Dictionary of Folk Geographical Terms” “chesme” (Turkic, sl.) is the key, the source that gives rise to a stream.

The word penetrated into other languages, including Slavic, in the form “cheshma”, “chesma”. This means that behind the not entirely euphonious word lies a very life-affirming meaning. Chesme Cape - has a spring source, and with the construction of the lighthouse there is also a light that lets you know..!

There is such a village - Zolotitsa. They say this is how a fairy tale rests

My homeland is the village of Letnyaya Zolotitsa, an ancient village that belonged to the legendary Marfa-Posadnitsa. Russian pioneers, undoubtedly, gave such a resounding bright name both for the beauty of the surrounding nature and for the abundance of goldfish that once went up the rapids to spawn. Much later, the beloved name of the residents of Zolotitsa from the Summer Coast was transferred to the Winter Coast.

There are so many charming names in the vicinity of my dear homeland. Since early childhood they have resonated within me. Fate turned out to be... I didn’t manage to live in my homeland for a long time; there were only very rare short-term visits. The desire to see each other, to see enough, to breathe, to show what was dear to one’s children was never fully fulfilled.

Eternal nostalgia for my native places settled in me for many years. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining; I had the opportunity to live in a variety of natural conditions in our Arkhangelsk region, in settlements with different lifestyles. After retiring, she came to Arkhangelsk, came to the local history department of the Dobrolyubovka reading room and began studying the history of her native land not out of duty, but out of love. Our generation intended to live under communism and looked into a ghostly bright future. Forgetting about continuity, they did not notice how they lost the light of the past. Those who do not remember the past have no future.

The names can tell a lot about the nature of our region and its history. Reading toponymic literature, studying maps, I was mentally transported to the distant times of ancient inhabitants and Russian pioneers. I dreamed of visiting everywhere myself. Most place names came to us through centuries and different languages. The meaning of so many names is unclear, but it is definitely there, it’s just hidden far away, and it needs to be unraveled.

Where to start? First of all, look to see if the name has namesakes in nearby or distant places. Perhaps other curious people have long ago discovered the incomprehensible meaning, or perhaps the word-toponym is well known to someone, because it is in his native language. One cannot help but be surprised that most of the toponyms that interest me throughout the North occur more than once. This fact was very helpful in my work, however, while studying in the quiet of the reading room, I became convinced that without seeing the area with my own eyes, it was impossible to settle on just one version.

In the summer of 2004, I made a short trip to my native place.

I flew over the Onega Peninsula in an airplane, contemplating from above what I saw on the map. Special colors of early summer: dark green of spruce forests, lighter green of pine forests, fresh bright of birch trees and reddish-brown, just emerging foliage of aspens. Lakes sparkled, rivers meandered, they had names, and these names were no longer silent for me.

We are landing at Letnyaya Zolotitsa, and from above I see golden sands that would be the envy of the best beaches of the southern seas. Residents of Zolotiche love to relax among these sands on the seashore. “We call this place Kandarei,” said my aunt Anna Semyonovna. It’s a beautiful word, which is probably why it has been preserved among the people. But what does it mean? And after a long search I find - in the Olonets dialect "kandas" - an elevated sandy shore.

Then I remember the charming names of the rivers: Galdarea, Gosdarea. To soar is to flow smoothly, to strive, the sands can also flow, but I am thinking about other options. The word “relka” is familiar from childhood; it was formed from “rel” - an elongated, low shaft, which in the past could have been a coastal shaft. This means that Kandarei is an elevated, coastal sand bank.

What other strange names are there in the immediate vicinity? Perth is not Petra, as we thought in childhood, and Pavna is not Peacock! Where Perty is, look for a hut, the Finno-Ugric word “perti” means hut: from time immemorial there was a hut on Pertnavolok, and there is one even now. The format "pavna" is etymologically linked to the Finnish word for puddle. In Russian toponymy it is used to mean a swampy meadow, a channel in a swamp.

From Zolotitsa I took a postal carriage to Pushlakhta - the homeland of my great-grandmother Larikha. In Pomeranian villages, the tradition of calling a wife after her husband has been preserved to this day. “I’ll go see Fedosikha,” the old lady will say.

The weather was favorable, I peered at the outlines of the coast, looking for capes, mountains, tones that I remembered when studying the map.

We pass Cape Satansky, the unusual name evokes a feeling of something bad.

If Satan had anything to do with the name of the cape, then, according to the rules of the Russian language, the cape would be Satanic. I have my own version: in the Sami language there is a word “saatka”, meaning a pier, a natural bay. There is a bay on the map. I shared my assumptions with Aunt Anna Semyonovna. She agreed, confirming: “Dad used to say that if you get caught in a storm at sea, save yourself in Satanskoe.”

We drive further, passing Khaina-volok, this “hai” is very mysterious - it does not reveal its secret.

We cross Konyukhovskaya Bay, in its depths the shore is low - extensive Venzin moss. Gasoline is a toponym formed from a personal name, with many names along the coast. Who is this Gasoline? One of the first settlers of Kola on the Kola Peninsula bore the same surname. But the toponym Konyukhovo (the name of the settlement of special settlers) was glorified by the famous traveler F.F. Konyukhov.

Behind the mosses, the Semiozerye mountains are blue, these mountains are a moraine ridge, in this place the last glacier lingered, leaving an indelible mark. I'm waiting for Cape Gorodok to appear; on the map it stands out as a tongue of sand. When I read the name of the Pushlakhot toni Gorodok in an old publication about the fishing grounds of the White Sea, I was intrigued by such an unusual name for the outback. Old-timers were unable to explain the origin of the name. Identical place names are rarely found alone, most often in “bushes”. In the depths of the cape there are two Gorodochny (Gorodetsky) lakes.

On the same trip, I unexpectedly managed to visit Bolshoy Gorodetskoye; could I have dreamed of this in the winter, bending over a map in the quiet of the reading room. Remote places, rarely visited by humans. We went there fishing and caught a load of perch. Fisherwoman Olga pulled out, breaking her fishing rod, a kilogram perch 40 cm long. And what was the taste of this perch baked in a Russian oven!

There were events and astral order. What places - untrodden traces of the past! We returned from the lake late in the evening, barely keeping up with our companions, I clicked the camera shutter in the hope of getting a picture of the dark wilds - the abode of fairy-tale characters. Received an unidentified glowing object!

There is a village called Zolotitsa. They say that a fairy tale rests there

What could possibly be hidden behind the name of the cape and lakes? I turn to Dahl’s dictionary and find: “towns” are log cages on which ships were placed.”

From an article by Sergei Popov about the White Sea lighthouses: “From 1862 to 1869 alone, 144 ships perished in the White Sea, and with them 199 people. First, shelter huts began to be created in the most dangerous places. After 1872, rescue stations began to be created: Mudyugskaya, Troitskaya, Letney-Orlovskaya. From 1873 to 1917 they saved 519 people. Then these stations began to close, because sailing ships almost completely ceased to exist. They were replaced by more reliable steamships."

Cape Gorodok is almost next to the Letney-Orlovsky lighthouse, a place apparently convenient for raising, when necessary, rescue ships, and perhaps even rescued ships. The toponym reminds us of events long past; our old people could tell us a lot, but there is no one to ask.

We pass Cape Gorodok, but I don’t see any sands, but along the shore there is a wide strip of driftwood, which apparently accumulated a very long time ago. Maybe the rescuers didn’t build any “small towns”, but nature itself did it?

There are quite a few places on the Onega Peninsula whose names are based on the Sami language. The affectionate name Lambinka comes from the dialect word "lamba" - a stagnant lake, in turn it comes from the Sami word "lampe" - a peat bog where cloudberries grow. Nature lover Vyacheslav Ustinov, who has been to the Lambinki area, claims that cloudberries are there.

Sometimes Zolotichena go fishing, which is a little far from the village of Vidozero. I ask one of them: “Why is the lake called that?” "Who knows?" - that was the answer. I least doubt the etymology of this toponym, “view” is from the Sami “wood”, “vyd” is a hill above the forest boundary. There are no such heights on the Onega Peninsula.

Vidozero is located on the top of the surrounding area, that is, on the watershed between the Dvina Bay and the Onega Bay. There are also video lakes on the watershed between the bays of Unskaya and Ukhta. On the Kola Peninsula, the modern habitat of the Sami, the high ground on the watershed is called Purvyd.

There are twins on the peninsula - two Myandozeros. "Myanda" is a type of pine growing in the swamp: crooked pine. It is probably difficult to find a lake in our area that does not have such pine trees growing around it. Perhaps there is another reason why the lakes were named so? Look at the map and it will become clear to you why I called the lakes twins.

In their outlines of the banks they are similar to the crooked forest pine. In Russian toponymy there are many names that indicate shape; the closest example is Lake Kostylevo. Can we stop with this version? In no case, the further into the forest, the more firewood. The possibility of continuing the search only fuels interest. From Minkin’s book “Toponyms of Murman” I learn: the Sami deity in the guise of a deer, and, according to legend, their ancestor, bears the name Myanda. The name of the Kola Myandozero is etymologically associated with the name of the god Myanda. I look at the map again, and it already seems to me that the lakes are very similar to the head of the divine Myanda, crowned with magnificent horns, however, all the possibilities do not contradict each other.

LAPALAHTA, LAPAHTA, SPADE...?

In the vicinity of L. Zolotitsa there are such names: Cape Lopalakhta, Cape Lapakhta, their meaning is not clear to us, they are clearly of foreign origin. And the river Lopatka, and the lake from which it flows is called Lopatinskoye. The last two toponyms are in our native language.

Why the river was named Lopatka remains a mystery. Lake Lopatinskoe does not look like a shovel or a spatula. However, let us return again to foreign-language toponyms: the etymology of Lopalakhta is as follows: the Sami word “lopye” means tonya, “lahta” means bay.

Lopalakhta is a Tonsky bay, not a very good name for a cape, “who knows what you don’t know.” I assume that Lapakhta comes from the Sami “lahpatash” - a convenient place for hanging out. The Lopatka River flows into the sea from the northern side of Cape Lapakhti; it doesn’t take much imagination to feel the consonance of the words. It is quite possible that the incomprehensible “lahpatash” sounded in the Russian version - Lopatka.

The Lopatka tract, where there was a settlement of special settlers, is located at some distance from the described place. The lake in the tract is called Kurzhinskoye for its red swamp water; it is interesting that the shape of this lake is similar to a shovel.

Author: Zinaida ZHUKOVA

Source: Newspaper "At the White Sea" (Arkhangelsk) in issues:

June 9, 2005 (23)

16 June 2005 (24)

June 23, 2005 (25)

June 30, 2005 (26)