On the way out of Pärnu we had to go through the Sindi pine forest, which was known to harbour many robbers and murderers…
– From a travelogue in the newspaper Sakala, 12 July 1919
You are now standing on what was once the postal road leading from the town of Pärnu to Paide, by way of Tori and Vändra. The road began at Raeküla on the Riga road and was considered one of the busiest roads in Northern Livonia, connecting the more fertile and prosperous areas of the Pärnu River basin with the export harbour in Pärnu.
After crossing the Reiu River, this historic road initially turned left from Lodja tavern, following the riverbank through the Sindi pine forest and towards the factory settlement at Sindi Manor. The road was sandy, and in spring often became soft and full of ruts due to the heavy factory carts. Since the lower course of the Pärnu River was navigable only as far as the mouth of the Reiu River, the output of the Sindi cloth factory had to be hauled there for loading onto ships.
Partly due to pressure from the factory administration and with support from the Livonian Road Fund, construction of a new stone road along a new route (today’s road between Sindi-Lodja and Paikuse) began in 1910. A small reinforced concrete bridge also had to be built over the stream at Sindi Manor (Türk’s Stream). From then on, the old road gradually became overgrown with grass, being used only occasionally when the stone road underwent major repairs.
Winter roads between Viljandi and Pärnu
Before the development of railways and motor transport, main trade was carried out in convoys along winter roads. These convoys transported loads of grain, flax, timber, spirits, salt and iron.
Travelling over frozen bogs and along iced-over rivers made it much easier to move heavy loads compared to unpaved summer roads, and also significantly shortened the distances.
One of Estonia’s most important networks of winter roads developed across the marshlands between Viljandi and Pärnu. Depending on the exact starting point, the main branches of the route ran through Tõramaa via Tori or through Kikepera bog towards the Sikasselja tavern. The final destination of both roads was Sindi-Lodja, where travellers descended onto the river ice at the mouth near the pontoon bridge, and the final stretch to the town of Pärnu was made along the firmly frozen river.
This shortcut reduced the distance between Pärnu and Viljandi by almost a quarter. When a new road from Viljandi to Pärnu was planned in the 1930s, its endpoint was marked as being the Sindi-Lodja tavern. The distance between the two towns on this road, which unfortunately was never built, would have been just under 70 km.
The importance of the winter roads declined with the development of the railway network, and ultimately disappeared entirely with the replacement of horse-drawn transport with automobiles in the 1950s.
The old narrow-gauge railway embankment runs parallel to the road between Lodja and Paikus.
To shorten the railway connection between Pärnu and Tallinn, which previously ran through Mõisaküla and Viljandi, a new railway line was built from Lelle to Pärnu in 1925. It was opened on 16 February 1928 and significantly reduced the previous 15-hour travel time between Tallinn and Pärnu. From then on, the main traffic between Sindi and Pärnu was also by rail.
By 1973, the Lelle-Pärnu narrow-gauge section was replaced with a broad-gauge one, which was rerouted before Sindi onto a new alignment via Tammiste and, starting in 1976, across the Papiniidu Bridge to Raeküla. Due to reconstruction work, the railway connection between Sindi and Pärnu had been dismantled earlier, in 1969.
Visit Pärnu uudiskiri aitab sul veeta oma järgmise puhkuse Pärnus!
Happening today
For travellers
Business Pärnu