Human Settlement and Buildings

Saarnaki is one of the first islets in the Väinameri Sea where human settlement was recorded in writing. As early as 1564, two one-feeder peasant families lived on Saarnaki – Sarnake Jürgen and Marcus Jacobson with their families. The task of the inhabitants was to supply the lords of Suuremõisa Manor with fresh fish. In order to feed their families, they had to engage simultaneously in farming and fishing and look for earning opportunities elsewhere (transporting salt and stone, occasionally contraband). Based on the house-rules law that applied on the Väinameri islets, Saarnaki and Hanikatsi could each feed up to 16 mouths – some of the children had to leave home upon reaching adulthood.

With the land reform of 1931, the Saarnaki farm was divided into the Mäe and Pärna farms, and the northern part of the islet (Vähe-Saarnaki) was separated as Uuetalu, inhabited by the Vapper family from Muhu. In 1941, Red Army soldiers burned down the Uuetalu buildings in punishment for harboring forest brothers.

The harder times that arrived with Soviet rule also brought about a deteriorating connection with Hiiumaa (the use of motorboats was banned). Life on the islet became increasingly bleak: there was no electricity, no medical care, no school, etc. The last islanders left Saarnaki in the autumn of 1973, after master Anton Saarnak died at sea.

The central part of the island has been inhabited for a longer time, where most of the farm buildings have survived to this day thanks to restoration work carried out in 1976–1985 by T. Leito, then head of the nature reserve. Today, some buildings of the former Mäe farm are privately owned (dwelling house, smoke sauna, summer kitchen) and some are municipal property (kiln-house, barn, "new" sauna, former barn converted into a guest house, windmill). The municipal buildings are managed by a non-profit association.