The Sea Captain's House -
Step into a time capsule from Rømø's heyday. A home where wealth, beauty and generations meet in the midst of rugged nature.
Experience the 1700s, when life on a Wadden Sea island offered more than just sand drifts and strong westerly winds. When the seafarers returned home after months at sea, their purses were full of money, their chests stuffed with silk fabrics and Dutch tiles, and their living rooms full of life and tales from afar.
1.
Captain Harcke goes ashore
The unique homestead is the grand result of an alliance between a wealthy Rømø familiy and a prosperous Frisian sea captain from the island of Föhr, Harcke Thades, who married into the family in 1746. Harckes wife, Margareta, had been living with her widowed mother, Karen Pedersdatter, in an old family homestead dating back to the mid-1500s. It was replaced by a new joint home, a testimony of their wealth. While the building itself was given many Frisian features, the interior design had much in common with the homesteads later known as “Kommandørgårde” (houses of commanders; a commander being a captain of a whaling or sealing ship).
Delve into the history of The Sea Captain's House
2.
Rømø’s upper class
Life at sea did not guarantee success – you had to be equipped with courage, skill, and experience. Your fortune was reflected in your home. Able merchants and commanders had close ties to Europe's major commercial centre, Amsterdam. Here, they acquired luxury goods, building materials, and inspiration for new architectural styles. The house holds thousands of Dutch tiles, the walls and ceilings are richly decorated with paintings, and a double-sided long case clock not only showed the time in the living room, but also in the kitchen. A striking symbol of wealth and culture.
4.
Alkoves, living room and parlor
The rich interior not only tells us about the luxury of that time but also allows a glimpse into the lives lived in this beautiful house. Have a look at the closet-like sleeping arrangements, the alkoves, where the family and staff slept. From the central hearth in the kitchen, the adjoining rooms were heated. Thereby creating a warm and comfortable atmosphere in the elegant, south facing, living room. The unheated easterly parlor held both sorrow and joy. This was the room where family and friends gathered for cheerful festivities as well as before funerals, where the deceased was carried out of the “corpse door” (a custom from the old days).
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A castle in the Wadden Sea
We are on an island in the Wadden Sea, at a time when seafaring, sealing and whaling have brought prosperity to Rømø. The homestead is built on a small rise in the landscape – a necessary safeguard against the comings and goings of the sea. The floor plan is atypical, not only for Rømø, but for everywhere else as well.
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