Eckerö

Eckerö is a municipality in the autonomous Finnish province (Finnish: Lääni ) Åland with 961 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2012). It is located in the extreme west of Åland and thus westernmost municipality of Finland. It is located on its own island, but which is expected to the main island Fasta Åland, and is connected to it by a bridge. To the east of the village there is Hammarland. The center is Eckerö Storby. Up to Mariehamn is approximately 35 kilometers. Of the inhabitants Eckerö speak Swedish as their mother tongue, 89 percent, 6 percent and 5 percent other Finnish languages ​​(as of 2012). The sole official language, as in Åland, the Swedish.

History

Eckerö was first mentioned around 1320 as Ækro; the first part of the place name is probably better understood as a variant of Swedish Aker field, ö is the Swedish word for island.

Just as Vårdö the east of the Åland mainland also Eckerö was an important way station for the postal route Turku -Stockholm in the West. Testimony of the importance of the postal service for the community is the magnificent, by Carl Ludwig Engel in 1828 designed Post and Customs House at the port Berghamn from where the mail boats Åland left towards Stockholm. Other attractions in the community next to the post house already mentioned part of the stone church dating from around 1400, the small bell is the oldest church bell in Finland.

Traffic

From the ferry terminal in Berghamn, on the west coast of Eckerö, you can take the ferry Eckerö Linjen to the Swedish Grisslehamn.

Towns

The municipality includes the villages: Berghamn, Björnhuvud ( Björnhovda ) Degersand, Finbo, Kyrkby, Käringsund, Marby, Överby, Skag, Storby, Torp, Skeppsvik, Udden. Västerbergen