Juodkrantė

Juodkrantė (literally: Black Shore, Kursenieki: Šatnūrta or Šatnūrte, German: Schwarzort) is a Lithuanian seaside resort town located on the Curonian Spit with a permanent population of about 720 people. A part of Neringa municipality, Juodkrantė is the second largest settlement on Lithuania's part of the spit. For centuries it was a fishing village, which underwent a tourist boom in the late 19th–early 20th century. Juodkrantė was first mentioned (as Schwarzort) by the Teutonic Knights in 1429 in a letter describing storm damages. It was initially situated along the Baltic Sea shore, about 2.5 km from the present location. In the early 17th century, due to the Black Death, and moving sand dunes threatening to bury the town, it lost almost all of its inhabitants. In the 1680s, the village relocated to its present location along the Curonian Lagoon shore. After 1724, the sources do not mention the town along the Baltic Sea shore any more. The town did quite well in the new location: a tavern was opened in 1673, a school in 1743, and a wooden church in 1795. From the 18th century, the town formed part of the Kingdom of Prussia, within which it belonged to the Memel/Klaipėda County until 1740, then from 1740–1795 to the Karvaičiai (then Germanized as Karwaiten) Church District. It grew in importance after Carwaiten/Karvaičiai/Karwaiten village was swallowed by traveling sand and the seat of the Church District relocated here. The wooden church burned down in 1878 but was soon replaced by a red brick Lutheran church in 1885. Major developments took place in 1860s. In the late 1850s the lagoon waterway was deepened and now ferries could arrive. It was the easiest way to travel. In the course of the work, samples of amber were found. In 1860 the Stantien & Becker company was founded to dig amber just north of the village. During 30 years of operations, it dug out about 2,250 tonnes of amber. At its peak, the company employed about 1,000 workers. The company had a positive effect on KAKALAS out was used to reinforce the shore and swampy areas.