The sawmill of Hieta - Hiedan Saha - abandoned in Orivesi since 1984 was a legendary place for us. It's the place where our smoldering interest in abandoned places blazed into an inferno around mid-90's. We used to frequent the place when we lived in town, and later make pilgrimages there. Sometimes we had ghettoblaster, brew, snacks or other stuff and we would also spend four midsummer party eves there.

History of the sawmill goes back to 1885. The Hieta strand had already then served inland waters ship traffic for some 20 years. The first steam sawmill in Orivesi region was built here, but only to burn down in 1887. It was instantly rebuilt. Formerly there were also other typical facilities at the same location: a grain mill till 1940's and a carpenter's shop till early 1950's.

After decades and reconstruction phases the aging sawmill was eventually passed to Nok¡a Oy - it was highly diversified company then. They shutdown the sawmill in 1984, just some months before it could've celebrated hundred years of operation. However, we've found some notes dated 1985 from the sawmill, so a full century of activity can be counted to it's merits.

End of the sawmill was just as dramatic and very similar to what happened during the start in 19th century - it burned on the night of June 30th, 2005. Probable cause was arson. The fire destroyed completely the sawmill and it's power station, which contained a steam engine among other stuff. Although the fire didn't destroy one smaller building, it did destroy our conceptual exploration home. So after the fire, a certain era has ultimately ended and Hieta will never again be the place it once was.

Due to special nature of this target, the photos are sorted chronologically.