Vårdö

The municipality is unilingually Swedish. Håkan Skogsjö has documented the permanently residing population of Vårdö from the 17th century to the present, covering the history of the municipality as a whole, its individual hamlets, down to each original farmstead and the families who lived there. Two notable Finnish authors, Sally Salminen and Anni Blomqvist, were born in Vårdö. Blomqvist lived her whole life on the Vårdö island of Simskäla. • Illustration — Vårdö church and cemetery The word "vårdö" means "the guardian island". On the highest mountain of Vårdö people used to light bonfires to warn the other islands of danger. The old post route from Stockholm to Turku went through Vårdö, by road from Båthusviken to Hullvik on the main island, otherwise by water. The local citizens took care of the mail transport in any type of weather. The dangerous mail transport lasted for over 300 years (1638–1910). Many people drowned on these journeys and in the memory of them the municipality of Vårdö has erected a memorial on the seashore of Hullvik. Today the post route road is marked with milestones.

• Name — Vårdö • Official Name — Vårdö kommun • Settlement Type — Municipality • Shield Size — 120x80px • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Finland • Subdivision Type1 — Region • Subdivision Name1 — Åland • Subdivision Type2 — Sub-region • Subdivision Name2 — Archipelago • Leader Title — Municipal manager • Leader Name — Erik Brunström • Timezone — EET • Utc Offset — +02:00 • Timezone Dst — EEST • Utc Offset Dst — +03:00